SUDBURY, Ontario – Every now and again a technology from one industry finds its way into a different industry with great success. Case in point: Toronto-based Bannik Gold Corp. The founder and CEO of the intermediate gold producer, Mr. Marlon Bannik, stumbled upon the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technology that unlocks the bitumen from the tar sands, and figures that he should be able to apply it to his gold company.
Marlon Bannik, Founder
I realize that gold is thicker than bitumen – this was confirmed by my cousin who works for Deerjunk Oil. But since gold *can* be melted, we just need to figure out how to melt it underground. We believe the trick is to use hotter steam; yes, steam that is at least 700 degrees Celsius. Once we develop that kind of steam, we should be able to pump the gold out of the ground. – Marlon Bannik, Founder Bannik Gold
The company’s investor relations department released a document this morning outlining how Bannik Gold will be able to reduce its operating costs many-fold using Steam Assisted Gold Drainage (SAGD) technology in its core Pimpco gold field in Northern Ontario.
According to Bannik Gold’s VP of its newly formed in-situ drilling department, Cindy Gemstone, P.Eng., “the idea is to heat the gold to the point that its viscosity is roughly equal to that of water. With this favourable mobility ratio, we could then pump water down the steam well to push the gold out of the producing well with relative ease. So you could think of this technology of a SAGD water throughput flood, or SAGD-WTF.”
This proposed in-situ gold producing technique has been met with stiff challenges from technical experts from both the gold mining and oil and gas industries. Some believe that there is no way that the idea could work because it is impossible to produce steam that is 700 degrees Celsius at the pressures that one can expect to come across in these new gold reservoirs. Some even believe that 700 ° C would not be hot enough to soften the gold.
A senior facilities engineer with Paris-based Totally Oil Corp believes that Bannik will encounter all sorts of difficulties keeping the gold in liquid from the reservoir to the sales point. To this, Mr. Marlon Bannik countered by saying the gold will drop out of the water at the wellhead directly into ingot molds that are automatically conveyed directly to a warehouse where they are stored for shipping to jewelry stores across North and South America.
Artist’s rendition of the molten gold that would be extracted from the gold reservoir using SAGD-WTF (as it pours into the ingot molds at the wellhead).
From an investors point of view, the jury is still out on the Bannik Gold’s SAGD-WTF technology.
Johnathan Westlake
My entire retirement depends this company’s stock performance. In some ways, I want to purchase more stock at this price point because if the company’s pilot, which is scheduled for 2014 Q4, is successful, then I expect to quadruple my current position in the company. But if it fails, then forget Hawaii, I’ll be retiring back home in Brandon, Manitoba. – Johnathan Westlake, intelligent investor
Seeing as 2P News co-founder Antoine McGuilicuddy owns 3% of Bannik Gold’s stock, he has a vested interest in seeing how this pilot unfolds. So 2P News will be sure to report to you on the company’s SAGD-WTF pilot project’s performance as details become available.
