Throughout the world there are literally billions of tons of spent ore in waste piles dotting the landscape. Multiple millions of dollars of non-renewable resources are lying about in huge mountains of forgotten materials.

Companies have spent large amounts of money to locate, excavate, size reduce and process these reserves. Some of the ventures were efficient, some of the technologies worked and some of the operations made money.

Why is so much metallurgical value languishing in forgotten mountains of waste?

1. They did not realize they were suffering a loss.
2. They were aware of the losses but were unable to alter the situation.
3. They were aware of the losses but found it convenient to ignore or to deny the loss was of any significance
4. The "best" technology available was inadequate

If the best methods of the day were based on very rich reserves, or cheap labor, or the necessity of producing metals for political reasons, then the recovery was essentially irrelevant.

In the past world of gold mining, the reserves were mined for the rich values leaving mountains of tailings behind. Coarse gold was recovered but microfine gold was not. Some tailing piles have values over 1 ounce to the ton.

Many third world countries operated their metals industries at a loss just to produce hard currency, as in the case of Peru and their copper industry. The communist bloc, or "central planning" countries ran their metals industries to "keep the wheels turning". Czech, Poland, Ukraine and Russia are good examples of this.

In Poland, fairly extensive gold mining was carried on in the 1700s, but they were plagued by "devil gold", a material that would not melt. They left over 150,00 hectares of tailings behind. Platinum was discovered around 1800, but the waste piles were never recovered.

When reviewing the history of metallurgical and mining technologies there is little doubt that millions of tons of waste were declared barren when they in fact contained large economic values. This isn’t meant to criticize yesterdays miner, because the same statement holds true in some cases today.

Some technologies were so flawed that the "West" stopped using them in the last century while the third world held on dearly. Martin furnaces in the steel industry and muffle furnaces in the zinc industry are good examples. Keep also in mind the HAZARDS of turning in politically incorrect reports on efficiencies of recovery and making your boss or the "central planning boards" look bad. In the third world this activity could be quite damaging to your health.

Another thought to ponder is the alteration of materials over time. Chemistry provided by the forces of nature over long periods can and will alter materials. As temperature and moisture levels change within a pile, the pile breathes. Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen migrate to the voids. Gases generated within the heap migrate and are modified or expelled. Each rainfall brings a new charge of acids, which continue to alter the minerals. The products of decomposition generate soluble salts that attack other minerals. The metals values may be recoverable now.

The piles are modifying everyday, very slowly, but ever changing.

Today’s technologies recovering yesterday’s wastes. Wastes that are already excavated, size reduced, accessible, of known composition, and a blot on man’s record of environmental stewardship.

The possibilities are quite exciting! The possibility for environmental remediation is enormous!

With this said, we introduce the CDE FAMILY of leach recovery technology. A non-cyanide leach that removes any metal or metallic residue from any media including toxic or hazardous waste. CDE leach liquors will digest and surrender any metal from antimony to zinc.

Suppose you had a bucket of salt and sand mixed together that you wanted to separate. One method could be individual grain separation by hand. This would work but not very effectively.

Consider then a leaching method using water to dissolve the salt and removing it in liquid form. The liquid could then be evaporated and the salt recovered in solid form. This method would be more efficient, and is a very simple materials recovery method utilizing leaching.

Therefore, for our purposes, leaching is the method of dissolving desired metals for the purpose of recovery, remediation and/or separation.

Water will work on salt but certainly not on metals. The problem is (was) finding a leach to digest or dissolve the metal(s) contaminants. Ancient Alchemists quested for the universal solvent but once they found it they to find no container to hold it.

CDE leach liquors require non-metallic containers.

We now introduce our version of the universal solvent. These leaches have successfully digested every metal and metallic waste that it has been exposed to.

CDE 2 leach:

1. Is an aqueous base formulation of common materials that combine to create an extremely aggressive method to dissolve, or "digest" metals.
2. Has an initial 0 pH value.
3. Has an initial ORP (oxidation reduction potential) in excess of 700 mv
4. Has been independently evaluated by one of the most respected mine labs in the USA. KD Engineering Co., Inc in conjunction with Metcon Research, Inc did a cyanide/CDE 2 comparison study for gold recovery. Their conclusion was that CDE 2 recovered 6% more gold than the cyanide.
5. May be formulated in the field by technicians with only rudimentary experience.
6. Replaces cyanide methods of gold recovery. Cyanide is extremely dangerous to site personnel and the environment. It is an archaic methodology that has no place in today’s world now that there is a better solution.
7. May be modified to selectively "leave", or not digest certain metals so extremely complex ores can be "simplified". An example would be a silver-bearing ore with a high content of base metals. The host ore can be treated so the base metals dissolve in solution leaving only silica and silver behind. Graviometric separation can then be employed for low-cost separation of the silver.