A good presentation at a conference informs you of technical advances and new ways to make money. On the basis of these criteria, my nominee for the best presentation at today’s SME Annual Meeting & Exhibit meeting is Hydro-Jex – Heap Leach Pad Stimulation Technology: Ready for World Wide Industrial Adoption?

The author and presenter was Thom Seal of Newmont Mining Corporation from Elko, Nevada. He talked with enthusiasm and knowledge of the work he has done to recover more gold from old heap leach pads. My quick summary of his work: in any heap leach pad there are zones where the gold has not been removed, mainly because construction practices prevented access to these zone by the seeping fluids supposed to liberate and transport the gold to collection points. He has devised novel ways to locate these “unprocessed” zones and to get the right chemicals to these zones to get the gold out. With gold at $600 an ounce plus, it makes good economic sense to go after these reserves, and he has proven you can do it.

To read his paper, you will need the meeting CD, or you may want to contact him at thom.seal@newmont.com and get a copy of his paper or PowerPoint presentation. To whet your appetite, here is the abstract of his paper:

The Hydro-Jex technology has been used by Newmont Mining Corp. on the gold heap leach pads on the Carlin Trend – Nevada for three years to recover the inventory gold and change the chemistry in the pads. This research and development patented process is described and the data presented. Information on drill sampling, geophysical surveying, followed by leach pad stimulation with impacts on solution chemistry and gold recovery are discussed. Can this technology be used to rinse and close heap leach pads faster with reduced pump energy cost and improved recovery?

I believe the answer is yes and I can only encourage you to take a look at his data to convince yourself.

Thom earned his Ph.D. for the work he has done in developing the Hydro-Jex technology. I suspect this is a well deserved degree. I chatted briefly with him after his presentation and he told me he is refining the work for future publication in the SME magazine. He speculated on the potential application of his methods to copper heap leach pads. Seems there is another world of opportunity awaiting this development.

Key to implementing the method is locating the dry zones in the heap leach pad. I stopped a while at the hydroGEOPHYSICS, Inc, booth. They have the technology and will be working with Thom and Newmont on future application of the technology. They have promised to keep us informed so stay tuned, or better still contact them and try the process on your heap leach pad.