I had a phone call yesterday, from a complete stranger, who after berating me for "disrespecting" the Hon. Mahama Ayariga, asked me why instead of criticising the "hard-working" minister for environment, science and technology, did I not rather bring to the attention of the authorities in Ghana, safer methods of mining gold.
God give Ghana's environmental activists patience: The future of our country, and the well-being of future generations is being compromised - by greedy, selfish and well-connected individuals, who don't care one jot about the effect of their actions on their fellow humans - and we are supposed to applaud those leading our country, who are all shirking their collective responsibility to stop the egregious criminality that is destroying forests, poisoning soils, streams, rivers and groundwater sources across our homeland Ghana? Amazing.
Once in power - after deceiving the electorate with empty promises to cast votes for them - do the hard-of-hearing members of our political class ever heed good advice offered freely to them, by patriotic citizens who care about our nation's future, and, in their own small way, seek the welfare of its hapless people?
Has this blog not already mentioned the University of Arizona's College of Engineering's new mining-sector inventions and the implications they hold for Ghana's gold mining industry in a number of past blog posts- and suggested that Ghana collaborates with Abraham Jalbout's MetOxs Electrochemical?
So why condemn a penniless and sick old man - who is frustrated by the lack of backbone being shown by officialdom - for criticising those in power who instead of fighting them, are rather throwing their arms up in the air, in despair, as wealthy criminals (who are bribing public officials left, right and centre) destroy our nation's nutural capital with impunity,?
Why not condemn the dishonest public officials, and corrupt politicians, who are beholden to those selfish and greedy criminals, instead, I ask? Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o. Be that as it may, for the sake of future generations of our people, this blog is offering a culled article from the website of the University of Arizona, written by Paul Tumarkin.
His article details inventions by faculty members of the University of Arizona's College of Engineering, which if adopted by the mining industry in Ghana, might possibly provide it with energy self-sufficiency, help make the gold mining sector more sustainable, and, best of all, turn it into a toxin-free industry.
One hopes that the Hon. Mahama Ayariga (and members of his fan club) will read it and ask the government to take steps to invite serial entrepreneur and co-inventor of the University of Arizona's College of Engineering's new mining methods, Abraham Jalbout, to Ghana.
This blog is pretty sure that Jalbout will be keen to come to Ghana if invited by the government, to discuss ways that local mining industry stakeholders such as: the Ghana Chamber of Mines; Minerals Commission; Environmental Protection Agency; the University of Mines, Tarkwa; and leading companies in the industry (large, medium and small), could collaborate with the start-up company, MetOxs Electrochemical, to transform mining in Ghana into a toxin-free undertaking.
Please read on:
"Inventions Deliver Cleaner Copper, Energy Capture
A toxin-free method for extracting copper from raw ore and other procedures using molten salts represent an opportunity for a sizable impact in both mining and energy storage.
By Paul Tumarkin
Tech Launch Arizona
Feb. 24, 2016
Arizona long has been a leader in the copper mining industry, but traditional processes for extracting the metal from the ore release toxins into the environment through seepage, air pollution and, in the worst cases, tailings pond failures.
Now University of Arizona College of Engineering professors Dominic Gervasio and principal research specialist Hassan Elsentriecy from the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering have invented a toxin-free method using high-temperature molten salts to extract the metal from raw copper ore.
At the same time, in collaboration with Peiwen "Perry" Li from the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, this team was inventing new ways to utilize these same high-temperature molten salts to recover and store the vast amounts of heat energy created in metal refining and smelting production.
Together, the complementary inventions — seven in all — represent an opportunity to make big impacts in both mining and energy storage.
Funded in part by serial entrepreneur and co-inventor Abraham Jalbout, the team worked with Tech Launch Arizona, the office of the UA that commercializes the inventions stemming from University research, to bring the technologies to the market via a startup company, MetOxs Electrochemical.
Current methods for extracting copper from ore involve chemical processes that produce huge mountains of waste mine tailings and lake-size waste water collections, accumulating high levels of toxins such as arsenic, cadmium and sulfuric acid.
The method of metal refining developed by Gervasio, Elsentriecy and Li — being commercialized via MetOxs — works by heating the ore using molten salts to temperatures exceeding 1,500 degrees Farenheit such that the copper is separated from the ore for easy collection.
The technique is transferrable to any mineral extraction process, which, according to Jalbout, "makes it a game-changer in terms of its robust nature and wide opportunity for implementation and impact."
"What makes this truly unique is use of a very specific salt formula that has the ability to strip the copper from the ore without the use of water and dangerous chemicals," says Bob Sleeper, Tech Launch Arizona licensing manager for the College of Engineering.
As a parallel benefit, the technology also allows for the collection of surplus heat and using it to power steam turbines and generators.
The process is similar — but much hotter — than that used for refining aluminum ore. Prior to this team’s research, such processing was not possible.
MetOxs CEO Jalbout sees great opportunity in the venture and is currently in discussions with multiple companies to scale up the process.
"Our technology represents a change of monumental importance for the viability and sustainability of the mining sector," Jalbout says. "As we have seen in the industrial revolution, this is the new era the industry must strive for."
"MetOxs is on a great path," Sleeper says. "Given what’s currently out there and what they’re bringing to the market, these technologies could really shift the paradigm with cleaner, more efficient methods for both mining and energy storage.""
End of culled piece by Paul Tumarkin from the website of the University of Arizona.
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