Wow VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 08, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnviroLeach Technologies Inc. (the "Company" or "EnviroLeach"), (ETI.CN) (EVLLF) (7N2.F) (WKN:A2DQUC) announced today that it has commenced construction of a 10 tonne per day environmentally friendly E-Waste processing plant based on the EnviroLeach proprietary process. The plant is being developed in partnership with Mineworx Technologies Ltd. (TSXV:MWX) of Coquitlam, BC. The plant has been designed to be scalable and will have an initial capacity of 2,500 tonnes (5,500,000 lbs) per annum of Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBAs) making it the largest and most environmentally friendly chemistry-based E-Waste processing facility in North America.
The process plant has been designed as a turn-key, modular and scalable system and will handle all aspects of the E-Waste recycling process including, material pre-treatment, shredding, grinding, leaching and metal extraction. The plant is currently under construction at the Mineworx facility in Coquitlam, BC, Canada and is expected to be completed and deployed to a strategic location and be operational by the end of Q4, 2017.
The EnviroLeach process provides a safe and effective alternative to the current toxic methods used for the hydrometallurgical extraction of precious metals in both the mining and Electronic Waste (E-waste) sectors. The proprietary water-based formula and its primary ingredients are FDA approved food-grade additives.
As part of the Company’s commitment to globally responsible initiatives and standards, it has already applied for and will conform to most of the industry certification programs including, the e-Stewards Standard for Responsible Recycling of Electronic Equipment, the Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS) and the Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI) Responsible Recycling (R2). These organizations require electronics recyclers and processors to adhere to a stringent set of requirements that regulate environmental, worker health and safety and security practices.
The company is already in discussions with numerous North American and International E-Waste recyclers, aggregators, OEMs, associations and manufacturers which have expressed interest in supplying high-grade E-Waste for processing. The target material would include: set top box boards, memory modules, motherboards, PCI boards, hard drive boards, CPU processors, cell phones and other PCBA based components and materials.
Duane Nelson, the CEO of EnviroLeach reports; “We are all very excited about the development of this unique plant. Both the EnviroLeach and Mineworx teams have been discreetly working on the design, engineering, specifications and pilot testing of this project since November 2016. The primary shredding and milling components have already been completed and the fabrication of the primary structures and other major components were started some 60 days ago. The estimated plant completion and pre-commissioning date is estimated at November 30th, 2017. This facility represents the world’s first truly 'green' solution for the extraction of precious and strategic metals from E-Waste and I’m very proud of both teams for their discretion, determination and continued commitment to this important project.”
The estimated operational costs, capital costs, development timelines and permitting procedures of this project are expected to be significantly lower than those associated with the mining sector. The Company intends to deploy this plant and aggressively scale up production. Numerous additional strategic plant locations have been identified across North America. The Company has also received many international inquiries.
As mentioned in the Company’s previous press release, the “Urban Mining” of E-Waste offers very compelling economic factors. These factors include, the low cost of source material, the above ground abundance and high-grade nature of the feed stock itself. These facts, combined with the accelerated leach kinetics, small environmental footprint and low capital costs, offers EnviroLeach the potential to become a low-cost metals producer in a very short period of time on a relatively small budget.
The Company’s mining division is still very active and currently testing numerous ores, concentrates and tailings and continues to receive numerous inquiries from the mining sector globally. The Company’s goal is to aggressively pursue both the Mining and E-Waste sectors simultaneously. The Company is currently building out its team to accommodate this aggressive growth.