Wastes to wealth

A Florida company says it committed to build a facility at Winnemucca to extract gold from mine tailings.

The plant will employ up to 40 people, says James Logan, president and chief executive officer ofWineco Productions Inc.

of Sunrise, Fla.

The facility will be developed by Development Exploration and Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary ofWineco.

Logan said last week the company hopes the plant will be operational within less than 90 days.He said Development Exploration and Mining will invest about $3 million in the facility.

He said the company uses a proprietary technology to extract gold particles as small as a micron from waste material from mines.

Tests, he said, show up to six ounces of gold can be extracted from a ton of waste using the technology.

Typically, Logan said, his company splits the take 50-50 with the mining company.

The company's deals with miners allow them to generate revenues from wastes otherwise viewed as worthless, Logan said, while Development Exploration and Mining generates gold-related revenues without the risks of investing in a mine.

Wineco said it's struck a deal to process tailings from the Willow Creek Mine 18 miles east ofWinnemucca, and Logan said the company is negotiating with other mining companies in the area.

He said Development Exploration and Mining plans to haul tailings to a storage yard along the Union Pacific tracks at Winnemucca, keeping wastes from each mine separate until they're processed.

Logan said the company is negotiating for four additional sites for plants to recover gold from mine tailings.

The company didn't provide any further information about those sites.

Although Wineco Productions is a public company, its stock hadn't traded until last week.

Logan said shareholders of the company have financed its plans at Winnemucca.