NAS INSTITUTE OF MICROBIOLOGY DEVELOPS NEW BIOMETALLURGICAL METHOD OF GOLD PRODUCTION
Noyan Tapan
Oct 31 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. A group of scientists of the
Mineral Microbiology Laboratory of the Institute of Microbiology of
the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is developing a new integrated
biometallurgical method of gold production. The laboratory head Narine
Vardanian stated this. According to her, new isolated active strains
of chemolithotrophic bacteria will be used for gold containibg pyrite
ores processing, which may allow to increase the gold recovery degree
up to 95%. To recap, the indicated group of scientists received a 5
thousand-dollar award under the Science and Technology Entreprenuership
Program (STEP) implemented by the Enterprise Incubator Foundation
(EIF) jointly with the Civilian Research and Development Foundation
(SRDF). The scientists plan to spend this money to obtain strains of
bacteria resistant to extremal conditions and test them in the Tandzut
gold mine owned by Vallex Mining company, after which it is envisaged
to made a proposal to this company to use the biometallurgical
method of gold production. N. Vardanian said that gold reserves in
Armenia are estimated at 500 tons. In the 1980s, gold extraction
in the country made two tons a year, in the 1990s this amount was
reduced significantly, while in the past few years it made about a
ton annually.
According to her, in 2005, 2,518 tons of gold was extracted in the
world: this index is half the average annual amount in the 1980s. The
stock exchange price of an ounce (28.3 grams) of gold currently makes
about 590 dollars, exceeeding twofold its price in the 1980s.