When it comes to small cap investing, it’s usually something involving bitcoin/blockchain, tech, biotech, cannabis and/or mining that grabs investor attention. After all, these sectors are considered “hot” (e.g. think anything related to cannabis now) and/or claim to offer a quick route to riches (e.g. a mine containing the next mother lode of gold).    Small cap BacTech Environmental Corporation (CSE: BAC; OTCMKTS: BCCEF)is a cleantech stock that is a play on a couple of “hot” sectors as the Company offers a unique solution to both cleanup and profit from left over riches in (often contaminated) mining tailings.  Investment Snapshot Small cap BacTech Environmental Corporation (CSE: BAC; OTCMKTS: BCCEF)has licensed bioleaching technology perpetually (both exclusively and royalty free). This bioleaching process can be used to recover valuable metals such as gold, silver, cobalt and nickel that were left behind in the mining tailings as well as for environmental remediation, arsenic stabilization and mercury reduction. BacTech Environmental’s bioleaching technology uses naturally-occurring bacteria (which is harmless to both humans and the environment) in reactors (tanks) to create a “Garden of Eden” environment for bacteria to thrive and multiply. This bacteria can accomplish in as little as 6 days what would normally take 20 years to occur naturally – leaving behind tailings that are benign with zero environmental damage as a result of the bioleaching process.    While the bacteria is naturally occurring and cannot be patented, patents relating to their application can be issued. In addition, the Company has found that the art of bioleaching is made up of 50% process patent and 50% know-how - which can only be acquired through a lengthy commercial track record. BacTech Environmental is focusing on providing environmental remediation services through bioleaching to address the worldwide arsenic problem as the uncontrolled use of mercury in artisanal mining has led to widespread environmental degradation in many countries.  The presence of valuable ores in contaminated tailings also means that bioleaching can be offered to otherwise cash strapped governments for free to clean up contaminated sites that would otherwise be left alone.   Contaminated Mining Tailings: A Problem and a Valuable Opportunity Tailings are the materials left over from the process of separating the valuable ore from the rock, sediment and uneconomic ore that they were found in. These tailings can still contain valuable ores and related materials. As mining techniques and the price of minerals improve, it is not unusual for mining tailings to be reprocessed using new methods (or more thoroughly with older methods) to recover additional minerals. However, tailings are often contaminated by arsenic and other substances like sulphides both used in the mining process and/or found naturally in the ground (that would otherwise be harmless when left underground); but are poisonous to humans and animals when exposed to the elements.     If nothing is done to treat them, the sulphides in these leftover mining tailings will react (or oxidize) with the atmosphere to create an acidic solution called acid rock drainage (ARD) which seeps into the surrounding area over time - causing severe environmental damage. This is often a problem in historic mining areas or in countries with few environmental safeguards are in place or where small scale unregulated artisanal mining occurs.   The historical approach to treating mining tailings that contain contaminates like arsenic along with valuable ores has been to use smelting and/or roasting techniques. This entails subjecting the sulphide ore to intense heat, whereby the sulphides are burned off, leaving behind the valuable metals for recovery.  The problem with using these methods is that there are strict limits on the amount of arsenic that can be burned through a mineral treatment process, and the general industry rule is that smelters cannot treat base or precious metal concentrates that contain more than 1.5% arsenic. Furthermore, they are also subject to a total tonnage limit that can be produced in a given year. BacTech Environmental Corporation Has a Cleantech Solution This brings us to BacTech Environmental Corporation or rather BacTech Mining Corporation which began in 1988 with origins in Western Australia. BacTech Mining was incorporated in Ontario (Canada) in mid-1997 and went public in September of the same year.  In 2010, BacTech Mining Corporation changed its name to REBgold Corporation and as part of a new Plan of Arrangement, entered into an agreement with newly created cleantech company (BacTech Environmental Corporation) for the licensing of bioleaching technology to be used by the latter perpetually (exclusively and royalty free) in the remediation of mine tailings.  Under the agreement, BacTech Environmental has access to the technology for mining-related projects in exchange for a 1% net smelter royalty (NSR). This was done in part to allow the Company to process ore from artisanal miners in South America who have historically been using mercury to recover gold. Note that since bacteria is naturally occurring, neither REBgold Corporation nor BacTech Environmental can apply for patent protection on them as entities, but they can apply for patents relating to their application. Nevertheless, BacTech Environmental has always protected its intellectual property through the application of process patents in countries where deemed necessary.    BacTech Environmental has also found that the art of bioleaching is made up of 50% process patent and 50% know-how, which can only be acquired through a lengthy commercial track record. Nevertheless, the Company will continue to advance its base metal bioleach technology and will apply for patents whenever appropriate. In addition, BacTech Environmental has added a second application for bioleaching. The uncontrolled use of mercury in artisanal mining has led to widespread environmental degradation in many countries like Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Through the use of flotation, arsenopyrite concentrates are produced that, when processed with bioleaching, produce gold and effectively tie up the arsenic without the use of mercury. BacTech Environmental is now focused on providing environmental remediation services to address the worldwide arsenic in mining problem. This decision was based on the global demand for the remediation of mining areas and the benefit of owning equity interests in such projects, versus the external licensing of the bioleaching technology. Understanding BacTech Environmental’s Cleantech Bioleaching Solution   Without getting too deep into the weeds, BacTech Environmental’s value proposition through its cleantech bioleaching solution is actually fairly easy to understand as it involves the use of bacteria in reactors (tanks) to create a “Garden of Eden” environment for naturally-occurring bacteria to thrive and multiply.    The key to making this work is to provide the bacteria (which is harmless to both humans and the environment) with optimal operating and living conditions in the reactors so that it oxidizes the sulphide materials left behind and separates the valuable metals from the otherwise difficult-to-process tailings.  This bacteria can accomplish in as little as six days what would normally take 20 years to occur naturally – leaving behind tailings that are benign with zero environmental damage as a result of the bioleaching process (e.g. any water used can be reused). Note that sixdays would be a common residence time in a commercial bioleach plant and the control of this and other parameters (such as the particle size of feed) are relatively simple and readily managed by operators (so long as they have correct training).  Since bioleaching works in the absence of direct heat, no arsenic trioxide gases are produced and the process can treat concentrates with much higher levels of arsenic than what would be allowed using other processes. For example: Precious metal concentrates produced from tailings in a region of Northern Ontario regularly return arsenic readings over 10%, thereby eliminating them from consideration for smelting and thus leaving the contaminants and the valuable ore in the ground. This makes bioleaching the only real cost effective solution.  The best part of BacTech Environmental’s bioleaching process is that it acts as a “cure” by targeting the source, the sulphides in tailings, and thus preventing future acid generation and contamination from occurring. In other words, it’s not a “band-aid” solution that just treats or tries to contain contaminated water and/or soils indefinitely plus there’s the added bonus of recovering valuable metals (such as gold, silver, cobalt and nickel) that were left behind in the contaminated mining tailings.  The presence of these valuable ores means that bioleaching can be offered to otherwise cash strapped governments for free to clean up contaminated sites that would otherwise be left alone. Bioleaching is also scalable in a short period of time, is capable of processing a wide variety of low to high grade mine tailings and is easy to expand to accommodate tailings from many types of mines within a region. BacTech Environmental will now apply this proven technology on mining tailings to extract valuable metals (as well as for ARD remediation, arsenic stabilization and mercury reduction) starting with a test program that is already underway in Ecuador (where mercury in mining has led to severe environmental degradation and contaminated ores that cannot be sold at market prices) – something the Small Cap Network will be watching closely over the coming months.