Cleaning up the environment and an industry like mining where not so environmentally friendly practices were often widely used in the past (and sometimes continue to be used to this day in developing countries) does not have to cost significant amounts of money. In fact and with the right cleantech technology, it can be a profitable win-win scenario for all stakeholders involved e.g. the miners, the government (aka taxpayers), local residents, the environment itself and of course the venture with the right technology facilitating the cleanup.  Small cap BacTech Environmental Corporation (CSE: BAC; OTCMKTS: BCCEF)is one such venture with a cleantech solution that can not only cleanup contaminated mining sites, it can also extract valuable ore from otherwise contaminated mining concentrates. The Company is now undertaking test programs in Ecuador that could ultimately be profitably replicated in countries around the world facing similar problems in their mining sectors.  INVESTMENT SUMMARY: Small cap BacTech Environmental Corporation (CSE: BAC; OTCMKTS: BCCEF)has access to a cleantech bioleaching technology to help cleanup mining sites and extract ore from contaminated concentrates. BacTech Environmental’s bioleaching solution involves the use of bacteria in reactors (tanks) to create a “Garden of Eden” environment for naturally-occurring bacteria to thrive and multiply. This bioleaching process acts as a “cure” for contaminated concentrates by targeting the source sulphides and can accomplish in as little as six days what would normally take 20 years to occur naturally with zero environmental damage as a result of the process itself.  In Ecuador (like in many developing countries), mercury has long been extensively used by small or artisanal miners (leading to severe long term environmental degradation) while high arsenic concentrates in the country are mostly sold to buyers in Asia with severe penalties applied to the sales price e.g. concentrates with up to 15% arsenic can be sold for as little as 50% of the gold content with no compensation for any related silver or copper.  With active encouragement from the Ecuadorean government, BacTech Environmental has focused on running test programs in the country's Ponce Enriquez region to address such problems.  The first program confirmed the ability of  bioleaching to produce and stabilize over 99% of the arsenic contained in provided samples where arsenic values reached as high as 17%. Ultimately and after more test programs are completed, BacTech Environmental plans to negotiate a base feed for what is initially expected to be a 40 tonne per day bioleaching plant in the Ponce Enriquez region. BacTech Environmental's Cleantech Bioleaching Solution Small cap BacTech Environmental Corporation or rather BacTech Mining Corporation began in 1988 with origins in Western Australia, was then 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.  BacTech Environmental’s cleantech bioleaching solution is unique in that it involves the use of bacteria in reactors (tanks) to create a “Garden of Eden” environment for naturally-occurring bacteria to thrive and multiply.       This bacteria (which is harmless to both humans and the environment) is provided with optimal operating and living conditions in reactors so that it oxidizes sulphide materials left behind and separates the valuable metals from the otherwise difficult-to-process concentrates.  Keep in mind that arsenic and other substances like sulphides that are used in the mining process and/or are found naturally in the ground become poisonous to humans and animals when exposed to the elements. If nothing is done to treat them, sulphides 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 to cause even more severe environmental damage. The historical treatment approach is to use smelting and/or roasting techniques. However, there are strict limits on the amount of arsenic that can be burned through a mineral treatment process, there is a general industry rule that smelters cannot treat base or precious metal concentrates containing more than 1.5% arsenic and there is also a total tonnage limit that can be produced in a given year. On the other hand, the bacteria used by BacTech Environmental can accomplish in as little as six days what would normally take 20 years to occur naturally and what is left behind is benign with zero environmental damage as a result of the bioleaching process itself (e.g. any water used can be reused). Other benefits with this bioleaching process includes: The control of bioleaching 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 when using other processes. Bioleaching is 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. Note that BacTech Environmental’s bioleaching process acts as a “cure” by targeting the source sulphides and prevents future acid generation and contamination from occurring. In other words, it’s not a “band-aid” solution and there’s the added bonus of recovering valuable metals (such as gold, silver, cobalt and nickel).  The presence of these valuable ores in contaminated concentrates means that bioleaching can be offered to otherwise cash strapped governments or poorer countries for free to help cleanup contaminated mining sites that would otherwise be left alone and do more damage to the surrounding environment.    BacTech Environmental's Ecuador Pilot Project This brings us to Ecuador. In many developing countries like Ecuador, mercury was and continues to be extensively used by small or artisanal miners – leading to severe long term environmental degradation as well as fatal health issues for the miners who use it to mine gold and silver.  The Minamata Convention of 2013 was signed by 140 countries and outlines the global elimination of mercury use by miners. Progress has been made; but there are still many areas of the world where mercury is still being used for mineral processing (e.g. by difficult to regulate artisanal miners).  In December 2017 after learning about the environmental problems caused by the use of mercury in the Ecuadorean mining sector, CEO Ross Orr and CFO Lou Nagy met with Ecuador's Minister of Mining to discuss the Company's potential participation in local ore processing, either from concentrates produced from current mining operations or from leftover tailings in the Ponce Enriquez (PE) area located in the southwest region of the country. The Ponce Enriquez area has a unique twofold problem that BacTech Environmental's bioleaching solution can solve: The tailings associated with the local mining industry have reached capacity and the government is hesitant to provide additional capacity given that these tailings sit at 1,000 meters above the coastal plain and a 100-year storm or an earthquake could cause severe damage should there be a breach.  Small miners in the Ponce Enriquez are forced to sell their arsenopyrite concentrates for 50 cents on the dollar to Asian buyers given that their arsenic levels regularly exceed 10%. NOTE: High arsenic concentrates are mostly sold to buyers in Asia with severe penalties applied to the sales price. In fact, it is not uncommon for concentrates with up to 15% arsenic to be sold for as little as 50% of the gold content with no compensation for any related silver or copper.  This means that producers of high arsenic concentrates are constantly searching for an inexpensive means of processing their material, but this has proven difficult given the global restrictions on treating concentrates high in arsenic. Smelter and/or roasters have severe limitations on the amount of arsenic that can be burned as the off-gas is a very toxic arsenic trioxide that must also be collected and stored.  For example:At the Giant Mine in Yellowknife (Canada), the effects of burning arsenopyrite has left some 250,000 tonnes of this material stored underground waiting for a final disposal solution. The estimated cost to the taxpayers of Canada to rectify this mine site alone and all the associated arsenic is $1 billion. In Ecuador, BacTech Environmental received enough encouragement from the government that the Company arranged for the delivery of 150 kg of arsenic ore, concentrate and tailings from the Ponce Enriquez area to Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada.  Over the past year, BacTech Environmental and Laurentian University have run two separate bioleach test programs on three different types of material from Ecuador - namely ore, concentrate and tailings. A second test program was designed to focus on different pulp densities which in turn will provide expected gold percentage recovery with these final results to be released shortly pending assay by an independent laboratory.  Results of the first program were delivered to the new Ecuadorean government Minister (Carlos Perez) in July and confirmed the ability of bioleaching to produce and stabilize over 99% of the contained arsenic in the material (note that arsenic values in several of the samples reached as high as 17%). The government was very pleased that someone was addressing their arsenic issues and they have committed to supporting the idea of bringing bioleaching to Ecuador for environmental cleanup purposes.  At this stage, BacTech Environmental will:  Identify a local partner  Secure base feed of concentrates for the proposed plant, and  Identify suitable tailings/concentrates for reprocessing using bioleaching In more detailed terms, the upcoming bioleaching work will focus on concentrates from two separate mines from the same area. Should the test work results conform to historic results on similar materials already treated by BacTech Environmental, the Company will move to negotiate a secure feed by paying a higher price per tonne of concentrate than what is received today. This material will be the base feed for what is initially expected to be a 40 tonne per day bioleach plant in the area. Such a local hybrid-type plant will provide many benefits to Ecuador and to the affected area surrounding the plant as it will not only allow for the processing of arsenic concentrates in-country; but also for the reprocessing arsenic concentrates that are a major concern to the government. So instead of trying to export contaminated raw concentrates for processing, the plant will create jobs locally, increase local/federal Ecuadorian taxes and deal with with the arsenic associated with gold production in a sustainable manner.  Since there are many arsenic gold mines in the area, its expected that the amount of arsenopyrite concentrate that is produced locally will continue to grow over time. This will allow for modular expansion of the original bioleach plant to handle any increase in feeds.  For this reason, the Small Cap Network will be watching BacTech Environmental's Ecuador project closely. If the project proves to be successful, the Company can then convince other countries in the region or around the world to use its bioleaching process to both cleanup and profit from contaminated mining sites or concentrates that would otherwise do more damage to the environment or be unprofitable.