EnviroGold Global Ltd (CSE:NVRO) (OTCQB: ESGLF) is a technology company enabling the global mining industry to monetize valuable metals contained in mine waste & tailings, reduce mine closure & environmental liabilities, improve social license & sustainable environmental outcomes.
Stockhouse recently sat down with David Cam, Founder and CEO of EnviroGold. Our discussion is around their innovation technology, their recent $4.1 million funding, and what’s next for the company in sustainable mining.
The following is a transcription of the above video, and The Market Online has edited it for clarity.
TMO: Let’s actually begin that conversation around technology and impact. Can you explain how EnviroGold’s global proprietary technology works and really what makes it a game changer for rehabilitating mine tailings?
Cam: EnviroGold’s technology does in one hour what nature takes 500 years. Now, that’s a big statement, but essentially, we’ve developed a two-stage acid leach that simply chemically alters the host rock in mine tailings.
And by definition many mine tailings are acidic. They create acid mine drainage, which is an environmental problem. Tailings dams sometimes collapse because of the acid generated inside the tailings.
EnviroGold technology targets the host rock to alter the composition of the tailings so that it no longer creates acid, no longer is an environmental hazard. The beauty of the technology is in so doing, it unlocks the value. It unlocks the gold, silver copper, leads and other metals to contemporary processing.
So, after processing or after treating with the EnviroGold technology, up to 95% of the metals can be recovered for market value. This is an opportunity that not only minimizes the environmental risk of tailings dams it is also a huge profit center for the owners of tailings dams and many mining companies, often their governments because the mines have been abandoned and remain an environmental risk.
So, our technology is a win-win for the environment. It’s a win for the company or the owner of the tailings dams, and it’s a win for the community.
TMO: I mean, that is good news right there. So, what about the market opportunity then? What are the primary reasons for focusing on rehabilitating mine tailings and how large is that addressable market for this solution globally?
Cam: Well, EnviroGold has approached the market from two directions. One is commercial. We need to make tailings dams profitable and economically viable for the owners to engage in the reprocessing or re-mining opportunity.
The side benefit is the environmental spin. Now, many people might say the environment is more important, and that’s probably true, but we’ve created a means whereby we can clean up the environment economically and in fact, profitably in most
cases. The opportunity is so large, there’s over 32,000 tailings dams worldwide. They have over $3.4 trillion of value in those tailings dams, and it’s growing at about $20 billion a year. So, the opportunity is enormous. And even for just a very small percentage of that market, it’s an amazing opportunity for EnviroGold and its shareholders.
TMO: Well, there’s also the amazing opportunity with your demonstration plant. Can you give us an update on that? Provide us with an update on the status of the demonstration plant as a whole and its role in advancing your commercial goals.
Cam: The process of developing technology is always long. It always costs more than you think and takes longer than you want it to take. However, it’s a very well-defined process. We’ve spent now four years in a laboratory and with independent field tests at lab scale and, and demonstration scale.
The next logical step is to own a plant that can demonstrate a technology at commercial scale sufficient for the engineers to build a full scale operating plant on a mine. So that’s the point we are at now.
We’ve acquired a very, very specially built by the Australian Government research facility. It’s a plant that is designed for our purposes and the customers send their tailings to our plant.
We process it, provide them with independent analysis, and that gives them enough information to make an informed decision about the technical efficacy, the commercial outputs and the operating capabilities of our plant on their mine site.
TMO: That sounds so innovative and exactly what the mining industry is definitely needing to go forward as well.
Let’s bring the focus around to funding and growth plans. With the recent $4.1 million oversubscribed private placement, how will these funds be allocated to support your strategic initiatives?
Cam: We’ve spent the past eight to 12 months moving from an R&D focus to a commercialization focus. So, this amount of capital was required to fully settle a demonstration plant and have it commissioned, and it is now fully operational. And now we’re just in commercialization mode. So, it’s about customer engagement, it’s our relationship with our new strategic partner, Fraser Alexander. So now that we’ve built and proven the technology, it’s about commercialization, revenue and then the next step is dividends for our shareholders.
TMO: Let’s expand on that just a little bit. As you mentioned, EnviroGold and Fraser Alexander have identified several opportunities to recover large quantities of valuable metals locked within TFS.
You’re also collaborating to commercialize opportunities and evaluate projects within each other’s networks.
How will this strategic partnership mark key steps in EnviroGold’s commercialization strategy?
Cam: Fraser Alexander are one of the world’s leading tailing storage facility managers. They operate over 50 TFS now and have an A-list client base that they’re working with.
On the other hand, EnviroGold’s technology is powerful and unlocks incredible amounts of value from tailing storage facilities whilst improving the environment and sustainability.
Together, Fraser Alexander and EnviroGold can work and deliver solutions for their mining customers that provide environmental benefits, social benefits, and are highly economic.
As an operating partner, Fraser Alexander gives EnviroGold the horsepower to get to the market quickly, to deliver and to provide the exceptional benefits our technology can provide.
TMO: What a partnership. Congratulations on that. Let’s look at the future outlook. What’s happening right now and what can investors get excited about in the months ahead and, you know, even what’s happening to scale its operations?
Cam: EnviroGold right now is focused on commercialization, customer engagement, and our next step is revenue.
We have engaged a firm in Vancouver to build a simulation model. It’s a world class (model) used by most of the big mining companies.
Technology, using AI that simulates the process and engineering and economic value of our technology for each specific tailings dam.
That engagement is underway, and we expect that to be delivered in the next month or two. Our focus, however, is clearly on customer engagement, mine tailings assessment and contracts, building plants, and operating through our partner Fraser Alexander.
Revenue is the next step for us.
You can find EnviroGold on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol C.NVRO and learn more about their innovative work at envirogoldglobal.com.
Company shares last traded at $0.090
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