[Rockhounds] Barrick Gold Challenge

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

This has been so much fun! 

I shared Grant's announcement with some friends, registered with
Barrick, and reviewed the challenge Friday evening. More than one friend
has confirmed a pending proposal.

I got to spend almost a whole weekend doing research on silver mining
and extraction to support an idea I came up with while reviewing
Barrick's  documentation. By Sunday evening I had a draft proposal.

Tonight I whipped it into shape and submitted it just before the
publishd deadline. I should probably buy a lottery ticket tomorrow for
better odds of winning millions. The contract was scary. I'm not giving
up my day job. You can't win if you don't enter.

Then I discovered Barrick has extended the submission deadline to April
30th. Over 100,000 have already registered, and more than a thousand
proposals have already been submitted. I get some time to try again. So
do you.

If you have not yet registered with Barrick you should reconsider. At
worst you have given your contact details to a reputable mining company
that may contact you with relevant offers		;-}.

I would suggest the details most rockhounds will find will be worth
learning, even though you may not be able to discuss them
directly/publically per the access agreement. Intellectual Property (IP)
rights really do matter.

You might get an idea. It would be way cool if an amateur rockhound
ended up winning the $10M prize. Can you afford to not take a look?

Kreigh


P.S., Grant, should this very long shot come thru I know how to find you
and share the blame for our rockhounding addiction. --KT




Grant Johnston wrote:
> 
> This might interest some of you who actually understand this stuff.
> 
> Barrick Gold has offered US$10 million to anyone who can figure a way
> to tease out up to 180 million ounces of silver trapped in silica at
> its Veladero mine in Argentina.
> 
> Currently, the company is only able to obtain less than 7 percent of
> the silver in the ore, so company officials have offered the reward to
> anyone who comes up with an idea that the company implements. "This
> opportunity will appeal to chemists, metallurgists, physicists,
> engineers, or any inventor with a new concept for improving silver
> recovery," said Greg Wilkins, President and CEO. "Experience in mining
> is not required because we are looking for innovation and new
> approaches. The $10 million award is a substantial incentive to spur
> creative thinking but, beyond that, Barrick will fund research and
> development for proposals that have merit. Scientists sometimes have
> difficulty finding funding to take their good ideas to the next level,
> so we believe this will be a welcome aspect of the program." Proposals
> will be assessed by a team of experts and evaluated on their technical
> viability and ability to be safely implemented at Veladero. Those
> judged to have merit will be invited to submit a detailed proposal. If
> successful, they will go on to further phases of development, testing
> and commercial evaluation.
> 
> Proposals are due January 21, 2008, and details are at www.unlockthevalue.com.
> 
>  Grant Johnston, Chico, CA
> --
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