BacTech Environmental Corp (CSE:BAC) (OTC:BCCEF) is a proven environmental technology company, delivering effective and eco-friendly biomining and remediation solutions to commercial operations to smartly process and recover preferred metals (gold, silver, cobalt, and copper) and safely remove and transform harmful contaminants like arsenic into benign EPA-approved products for landfill. Tapping into numerous environmental and economic advantages of its proprietary method of bioleaching, BacTech uses naturally occurring bacteria, harmless to both humans and the environment, to neutralize toxic mining sites with high-pay potential.

The Company has plans to build its new owner-operated bioleaching facility in Ponce Enriquez, Ecuador and is investigating the prospects of establishing additional modern mining operations across other areas of Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Central America. Where possible, the Company will partner with national and local governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and others to assist with the funding of these projects.

Our commercially proven environmental technology delivers effective and eco-friendly biomining and remediation solutions — safely and responsibly. BacTech’s solution uses nature’s bugs: bacteria that does the job of recovering metals and healing the environment.

BacTech Bioleaching Process

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Learning from the Past.

Changing the Future.

Mining has existed for thousands of years and mining will continue to play a vital role in the future. Consequently, it is imperative that environmentally conscious mining practices are established that put the environment first.

Historically, mining has had adverse effects on the environment. For example, acid contamination from sulphide tailings or breaches of tailings dams have destroyed local ecosystems.

BacTech uses bioleaching — a bacterial oxidation technology that liberates precious and base metals from difficult-to-treat sulphide ores and concentrates.

Bioleaching is a safe and environmentally-friendly process. Bacterial oxidation has the advantage of improving metal recovery at significantly lower capital and operating costs when compared to traditional treatment methods of smelting, roasting and pressure oxidation. BacTech is one of two companies in the world using commercially-proven bioleaching technology for gold and for base metal separation.

Our Values

Passion

There is a need to conduct mining activities in a safe and responsible way. Unsafe mining methods increasingly lead to the degradation of the environment and health of living beings. Band-Aid methods to treat mine tailings aren’t effective long term and large quantities of metals go unrecovered. BacTech’s solution recovers metals while healing the environment.

Environmental Sustainability

The bugs we use are 100% naturally occurring and completely safe for living beings and the environment. Our practices lead to the permanent elimination of acid rock drainage and all by-products are chemically stable. Furthermore, the metals we produce don’t require new mining operations.

Community

We work with local stakeholders through all our projects. Typically, locals end up being the ones most negatively impacted by bad mining practices. We commit to ensuring that the lasting benefits of our operations are shared with the local communities.

Innovation

We use bioleach technology to recover metals from an environmental clean-up. No one else is doing what we’re doing. Spearheaded by Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk, our test work is carried out at the Goodman School of Mines at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. This partnership was facilitated by Ontario Genomics and is invaluable to the work we do.

TECHNOLOGY

Overview

Our technology, bioleaching, uses naturally-occurring bacteria to neutralize toxic mining sites and allows for environmentally-friendly processing in the mining industry.

Summary

Bioleaching’s naturally-occurring bacteria are harmless to both humans and the environment. The concentrates and tailings we target contain ores and related materials contaminated by arsenic and other substances that are poisonous to humans and animals, as well as harmful to the local environment.

The sulphides in these tailings react (oxidize) with the atmosphere to create an acidic solution called acid rock drainage (“ARD”), which seeps into the surrounding area over time. BacTech’s bioleaching process can stabilize these toxins from minerals and prevent additional harmful ARD. The technology provides a “Garden of Eden” environment for the bacteria to thrive and multiply and permits them to achieve in 6 days what would normally take 20 years to occur naturally.

The tailings created by bioleaching are benign, and zero environmental damage occurs as a result of the process. An added bonus is its ability to recover valuable metals such as gold, silver, cobalt and nickel that remain in the tailings.

Benefits

Economic

• Better pay to miners and remediation of tailings at no cost to government/miner
• Revenues through the recovery of contained metals — Au, Ag, Cu, Ni, Zn, Co
• Local opportunities for work, training, development and the start of a new ‘green metal’ industry
• Lower cost than the alternatives (e.g. pressure oxidation) and requires less capital
• Easy to expand to accommodate additional tonnage from many types of mines within a region

Environment

• The bacteria are naturally occurring and harmless to the environment and human health
• Toxic heavy metals, like arsenic, are converted into stable, environmentally benign products
• What is being treated is the actual source of acid generation and not the symptoms
• Prevention of future Acid Mine Drainage through sulphide neutralization
• No gaseous emissions such as S02 or As203
• Efficient reuse of water from the process
• Reduction in use of mercury by artisanal miners

Technical

• Technology is already commercially proven and ready for deployment
• BacTech has “in-house” capacity for the design, construction and operation of the plant
• It is a continuous process which is safe, easy to operate and flexible
• Scalable in a short period of time and capable of processing a wide variety of low to high grade mine tailings

Bacterial oxidation technology, also known as “bioleaching” or “bio-oxidation”, was originally developed by BacTech Mining Corporation (re-named REBgold Corporation effective December 2, 2010). The technology employs naturally-occurring bacteria, harmless to both humans and the environment, to liberate precious and base metals from difficult to treat ores, concentrates and tailings.

A Deeper Understanding

The benefits of bioleaching extended beyond just the remediation of tailings and other mining stockpiles. Bioleaching addresses several tailings-related environmental issues at once, while generating revenue that can effectively fund the remediation process.

Bioleaching uses naturally-occurring bacteria in reactors (tanks) to oxidize sulphides. The key is providing the bacteria with optimal operating and living conditions in the reactors. They are capable of oxidizing sulphides in as little as 5–6 days, as opposed to many years in their natural habitat. This is a common residence time in a commercial bioleach plant and the control of this and other parameters, such as the particle size of feed, are relatively simple and readily managed by operators with the correct training.

Following BacTech’s first application for bioleaching, the Company added a second application for the use of bioleaching. Through a professor at the University of British Columbia, we learned of the dangerous use of mercury in artisanal mining in various countries. This uncontrolled use has led to widespread environmental degradation in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, to name a few countries. Through the use of flotation, arsenopyrite concentrates are produced that, when processed with bioleaching, produce gold and a benign form of arsenic, called ferric arsenate. In this scenario, bioleaching is able to recover more gold and replace the use of mercury to provide a greener solution.

CleanTech Solution

The historical approach to treating refractory arsenic ores has been to use smelting and/or roasting. This entails subjecting the sulphide ore to intense heat, whereby the sulphides are burned off, leaving the desired metals for recovery. There are strict limits on the amount of arsenic that can be burned through a mineral treatment process imposed by the WHO. The industry rule is that smelters cannot treat base or precious metal concentrates that contain more than 0.5% arsenic. Furthermore, they are also subject to a total tonnage limit that can be processed in a given year.

CleanTech Explained

Since bioleaching works in the absence of direct heat, there are no arsenic trioxide (As203) gases produced through the process. In fact, bioleaching can treat concentrates with much higher levels of arsenic than what would be allowed using a pyrometallurgical process.

Bioleaching can handle much higher levels of arsenic for neutralization. Bioleaching converts the arsenic present in the tailings into ferric arsenate, which is a stable and environmentally benign end product (US-EPA).

Previous testing of bioleaching precipitate residues using the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (“TCLP”) has been undertaken in conformance with US Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) standards, which are recognized internationally as the test method for environmental stability of such materials. The results serve to confirm the environmental suitability of the precipitates for disposal. The EPA TCLP is the procedure used by Ontario Regulation 558 to determine the suitability of a byproduct for land disposal.

In addition to the avoidance of S02 airborne emissions, bioleaching can be an effective method for treating Acid Rock Drainage (“ARD”) through the oxidation of sulphides, which are responsible for leaching metals into surrounding areas. As opposed to “band-aid” solutions that treat contaminated water and/or soils indefinitely, bioleaching acts as a “cure” by targeting the source, the sulphides in tailings, and thus preventing future acid generation from occurring.

Projects

Ecuador: Ponce Enriquez

Our current pursuits have taken us to Ecuador where there is significant opportunity for gold recovery while addressing the environmental degradation and health issues caused by mining.

Ecuador has emerged as a country of major interest given the high levels of arsenic in concentrates and tailings produced by small, artisanal miners. Our interest in South America largely stems from BacTech’s ability to support improved metallurgical processing while treating high arsenic materials, as opposed to current practices of shipping material to Asia at severe pricing discounts — where dangerous and environmentally unfriendly liberation treatments involving mercury are used.

Site Drilling – Property is 40 ha of cocoa plants.

Moving Forward

BacTech’s plan is to build a 50 tpd bioleach plant capable of treating high gold/arsenic material in Ponce Enriquez, Ecuador. A 50 tpd plant, processing 1.5 ounces of gold per tonne of feed, would produce approximately 26,000 ounces per year. Plant designs are modular and can be expanded without affecting ongoing production.

Work for Permits

On July 19,2021, the Company announced it was moving forward with news of strong gold recovery results. Final results from its commercial bioleach testing, completed by third-party metallurgical leader ALS Laboratories in Perth, Australia, show a range of 95.5% to 96.4% gold recovery on three arsenopyrite/pyrite concentrates collected from mines in Ponce Enriquez, Ecuador.

“With successful gold recovery testing behind us, we’re excited to take the next step forward into the feasibility study with confidence. We’re proceeding with the understanding that we can expect quality and consistent gold recoveries using a range of feedstocks with favourable solubility of arsenic and iron from the bioleaching process,” said Ross Orr, President and CEO of BacTech. “These high recoveries are especially pleasing considering that one of the tested feedstocks was a cyanide tails residue which can be difficult to bioleach due to its high toxicity. Clearly our upfront washing process of the tails residue sample safely and successfully mitigated the effects of residual cyanide during the oxidation process, and ultimately convert tailings into stable, eco-friendly products. This is an important result, considering the large number of cyanide residues available in the region which could provide additional feedstocks to our plant.”

Geo Tech Drilling

CEO Ross Orr and Bernardo Brito, BacTech’s country manager in Ecuador, conducted recent Ponce Enriquez-area site visits to identify potential build locations. Plant requirements include access to power, clean water, and a tailings facility, leading the team to identify two locations of immediate interest. Site selection remains a Company priority, as timelines for the intended operation are largely driven by the permitting phase.

Following the overall study completion, the Company will award a third-party Feasibility Study to determine the economic potential of the project. It should be noted that this study is expected to be simplified by the fact that there are no mining requirements to consider.  Pending project feasibility, a Detailed Engineering Study would then be commissioned. It is anticipated a Chief Operating Officer responsible for building out the bioleach plant will be engaged shortly.

Colombia: Medellin

BacTech is actively investigating a high-grade tailings project near Medellin, Colombia with Metaltec LLC. MetalTec, based in Naples, Florida, operates an alluvial mine in Colombia as well as brokering gold produced by small miners. BacTech and MetalTec LLC have agreed to conduct a third-party sampling program to get a better understanding of the grade as well as metal distribution in the tailings. Access to the country remains limited due to COVID-19 restrictions, but the Company intends to pursue this opportunity once it becomes safe and pandemic risks can be properly assessed and mitigated.

A second gold/silver tailings opportunity in Columbia has also now been identified. The common theme outside of gold/silver is arsenic – ideal for BacTech operations to take hold

The Team

Ross Orr | President & CEO

Ross Orr initially brought BacTech Mining Corporation to Canada from Australia in 1997 and was instrumental in the success of the Company’s IPO. He sat on the board as an outside Director until taking the role of President and CEO in 2004. Following completion of the Plan of Arrangement in December 2010 which split BacTech Mining into two new companies, REBgold Corporation and BacTech Environmental Corporation, Mr. Orr assumed the position of President & CEO of BacTech Environmental.

Louis R. Nagy | Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Secretary

Louis has served as CFO of BacTech for more than a decade. A Chartered Accountant with over 28 years of professional service and industry experience involving financial and management reporting, treasury and cash management, reorganizations, IT and system implementations and investment banking, he has held various finance and accounting roles, including Chief Financial Officer within small to medium sized private and public companies.

Dr. Paul C. Miller | Vice President, Technology & Engineering

Dr. Miller has over 25 years’ industrial experience in bioleaching and commercial applications. Paul joined BacTech Australia in 1996 and has since been responsible for all technical aspects of projects, from initial test work and management of studies through to project design and execution. He currently oversees all BacTech testing work conducted at ALS Laboratories in Perth, Australia. Paul first began evaluating bioleaching against competing technologies in the mid-1980’s, supporting worldwide contracting activities with an emphasis on refractory gold projects throughout his career.

The Hon.Tim Lewin | Director, Chairman of the Board

Tim is a former Commodities Trader from London, England with more than thirty-five years of industry and management experience. Tim’s trading knowledge began on the floor of the Commodity Exchanges in London before broadening over time to encompass most physical commodities, including gold and LME-traded metals. In 1992 his proprietary company was one of the first to be engaged by the UK Government and sent to the post-Soviet Union to lend support on commodity trading to the “economy in transition”. In the past, Tim served on the Bank of England market monitoring committee and has been a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments since its creation in the late 1980s.

Donald A. Whalen | Director

Donald is the former Executive Chairman of High River Gold Mines Limited (1992-2008), which owned and operated the New Britannia Mine (now Snow Lake Mine). Prior to this he spent 29 years with IBM Canada Ltd. He is the past Chairman of the Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (1998-2008), and he was Co-Chair of the Canada Russia Business Council (2004-2006). In addition to BacTech, he currently sits on the boards of Pancontinental Gold Corp. and Roscan Minerals Corporation.

Jay Richardson | Director, Head of Audit Committee

Jay Richardson is a retired Partner of KPMG (UK) and Clarkson Gordon Arthur Young (Canada and Singapore)(now Ernst & Young). Since his retirement from KPMG in 1993 his principal occupation has been as Managing Partner of James A. Richardson & Partner, a boutique firm of company doctors undertaking engagements focused on business problems, often involving Interim Management, frequently as Interim CEO including of listed public companies. As well, he has served as Board Chair or member and/or Audit Committee Chair or member of over a dozen listed public companies most significantly including Chairman of the Argus Corporation and Interim CEO of Liberty Mines. He has served on the Board of over a dozen charitable organizations, presently including the Textile Museum of Canada, RiverBrink Art Museum, Life Saving Therapies Network and Craft Ontario and chairs the Weir Foundation.

W. Walter Cimowsky | Director, Member of the Audit Committee

Walter is a founding partner and director of Ocean Partners Holdings Limited, a privately held company active in the global physical trading and marketing of copper, zinc, lead and precious metal concentrates. Ocean Partners provides or arranges financing for small/medium sized mining projects, and currently holds equity positions in mines located in Canada, Mexico and Turkey.

Jay L. Naster | Director, Member of the Audit Committee

Jay is a partner with Brauti Thorning LLP in the criminal and regulatory law group focused on white-collar criminal and regulatory litigation and investigations. Prior to this, Jay served as senior litigation counsel at the Ontario Securities Commission, conducting criminal prosecutions and regulatory hearings pursuant to the Securities Act. Earlier, he served as Crown counsel with the Crown Law Office. Jay is a member of a number of the Advocates Society and the Canadian Bar Association.

Bernardo Brito Rodriguez | Country Manager – Ecuador

Bernardo Brito initially introduced BacTech to Ecuador in 2016. Bernardo owns and operates Geostrat S.A., a Quito-based natural resource services company. From 2015 to 2017, he was employed by metal trading companies looking to develop their mineral concentrates business in Ecuador. Bernardo holds an MSc in Metals and Energy Finance from the Royal School of Mines, UK, and a BA in Economics from Reed College, USA.

Gary G. Williams | Consultant

Gary has worked in the mining industry since 1977, in both exploration and environmental capacities. He has conducted mineral exploration programs throughout Canada, as well as environmental investigations related to tailings and mine rock management at a variety of mining projects. Gary has held various Executive Team roles with several junior TSX-listed exploration companies, and was actively involved with the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario at its onset.

Steve Roebuck | Consultant

Steve Roebuck has over 25 years of experience in the mining and exploration industry including open-pit and underground mine operations. Steve has held senior management positions with junior exploration companies and small junior production companies. In addition, he has capital market expertise including M&A strategies, junior financing (over $10 M), investor relations and marketing and is currently the President and CEO of Avidian Gold Corp.

Oscar A. Alvarado | Sustainability and Communications Advisor

Oscar is an interdisciplinary environmental professional with a technical background in hydrology and environmental science. From water resource management to sustainable policy-making, Oscar brings a comprehensive understanding of environmental well-being and sustainability to the team. His international experience includes managing the environmental department of a gold-producing mine operation in Armenia, undertaking research projects on behalf of local and multi-national institutions and developing environmental business opportunities throughout the Americas.

Andrew Taunton | Strategic Advisor

An active business executive and resident of Ecuador for the past 30 years, Mr. Taunton currently oversees the SolGold Ecuadorian group of companies which hold mineral exploration properties throughout the country, including the world class recognized Cascabel / Alpala copper gold project. Mr. Taunton’s extensive business and government relations experience in Ecuador includes establishing petroleum service activities as an entrepreneur, representing multiple international aviation parts and services suppliers including Pratt and Whitney Canada, holding senior management team roles in physical security and crisis management in the petroleum and mining industries and leading the initial stages of planning for the transition of all stakeholders to Quito’s new airport. Andrew was COO for a TSX listed junior explorer with central Ecuador exploration activity and Security Manager for Kinross Gold Corporation’s Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador and their Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania. His voluntary service has included being the President of the British Ecuadorian Chamber of Commerce, one of the Founders of the British School in Quito and a Consular Agent over many years for the British Embassy. He also currently sits as a Director of the Ecuadorian Chamber of Mining. Andrew was awarded the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his service and international liaison activity following the 2016 earthquake which hit Ecuador.

Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk | Strategic Advisor

A seasoned research scientist focused on mine waste microbiology and the development of applications for bioleaching and bioremediation, Dr. Mykytczuk will work closely with the BacTech scientific team to help support pilot plant testing efforts in addition to exploring other novel uses of the Company’s technology. Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk is currently the interim CEO and President of MIRARCO in Sudbury, Canada, a leader in the development and deployment of innovative solutions responding to the needs of the mining industry. Regarded as one of Canada’s top experts in biomining and bioremediation, she has worked for 15 years in the field of mine waste microbiology and the development of applications for bioleaching and bioremediation. From 2016 to 2021, she held the role of Industrial Research Chair in Biomining, Bioremediation, and Science Communication at Laurentian University. Dr. Mykytczuk is a graduate of Laurentian University with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Adaptation to Environmental Stressors in Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, and Carleton University with Bachelor of Science (BS) in Environmental Science.

Stevie Gamboa | Strategic Advisor

Mr. Gamboa is a lawyer with 20+ years experience working in the Strategic Sectors (mining, oil, and energy) in Ecuador. He is the former CEO of the National Mining Company of Ecuador and a member of the Board of the Mining Regulation and Control Agency. Mr. Gamboa currently directs the Natural Resources Unit at GSG Consulting and is also the Coordinator of the Industry Group in the EITI-ECUADOR initiative and Director of the digital portal elmonominero.com, Additionally, Mr. Gamboa is a member of the Iberoamerican Association of Energy Law ASIDE and is part of the Environmental Committee of the Chamber of Mining of Ecuador. Presently practicing law, he has been an advisor to the Ministries of Strategic Sectors and Mining and has represented the Ecuadorian mining sector in different international events.

Contact Information

Mailing Address:

37 King Street East, Suite 409
Toronto, Ontario M5C 1E9
Canada

Main Number: (416) 813-0303 x222

Email for all inquiries: info@bactechgreen.com