The invention that will revolutionize ore extraction has entered the "pilot stage"

Businessman Nicolae Costache is quickly getting near to the final results of the pilot stage of the method that is set to revolutionize the ore extraction industry. He said, exclusively for "BURSA", that in approximately two weeks, he expects to see the first results, following the application of the invention patented by him and by B. Voldemars, a researcher of Latvian origin.

The invention that the two have patented in Geneva, on June 1st last year, involves eliminating the use of cyanides from the mining of precious metals (gold, silver) and strategic metals (uranium, thorium, wolfram, titanium, columbite, strontium). The Costache-Voldemars methods disintegrates ore, and this process leads to a very fine granulation of the ore. Nicolae Costache said: "The important thing is that method is environment friendly, which involves low costs. It can be used in other areas, as a decontamination method".

Aside from the fact that the method for exploiting is environmental friendly, it also has very low costs, compared to the traditional methods. Nicolae Costache said that when cyanide is used by itself, the ore yields 58 to 60%of gold. In turn, the method proposed by him and by the Latvian researcher, up to 95% of gold can be recovered. "Even if the yield were equal, the cost of using our method is lower", said Nicolae Costache. He said the yield is about 35% higher, and costs are about 70% lower than those of the traditional methods.

Nicolae Costache returned to Romania in August last year (ed. note: he manages mining and diamond leases in Western Africa) to launch the pilot stage of the project. He has decided to build an experimental station, near a gold mining region in Romania. For security reasons, the businessman declined to provide details on the tests which will take place in that area.

Nicolae Costache said that the team he is currently working with is small and he said that he is in constant contact with them.

The invention that could revolutionize the mining industry was initially created in a laboratory in Sierra Leone, where Nicolae Costache runs his business. According to him, the authorities of Sierra Leone have supported the project. The businessman has received the support of Thomas Koroma, the brother of the president of Sierra Leone.

The Costache-Voldemars invention can represent the solution for the problems which many gold mining companies are faced with, due to the restrictions in using cyanides. The Costache-Voldemars method can also help prevent environmental disasters.

One such disaster occurred in Romania on the night of January 30 to January 31st 2000, when a segment of 25 meters of the dyke of the pond for the settlement of industrial water, of the Romanian-Australian company "Aurul" Baia Mare broke. This allowed 100,000 cubic meters of cyanide waters to leak into the river Someş and then into the river Tisa, crossing areas from Hungary and Yugoslavia, reaching the Danube and then entering the territory of Romania. Because of this accident, Romania has been sentenced by the European Court of Human Rights for failing to assess correctly the risks of using cyanides in the mine of Baia Mare, as the violation of the right to privacy was invoked during the trial.