The Challenge

According to the National Resource Council, U.S. coal companies discard 70 million to 90 million tons a year of finely-sized coal that preparation plants can’t economically capture with flotation using the current state-of-the-art technology for recovering fine particles. As of 2005, an estimated 500 million to 800 million tons of coal fines were held in impoundments across the country. Worldwide, the tonnage of wasted coal measures in the billions.

Likewise, the ore mining industry loses millions of tons a year of copper, lead, zinc, silver, and other valuable ores in throw-away tailings.