Plymouth, CA…Advanced Materials Processing, Inc. (AMPI) announced the award of their patent for cleaning mine waste and using the resulting deep-core earth as a source for natural fertilizer. Effective July 19, the patent covers the company’s unique, non-toxic process that will extract mercury from mine waste. The process also extracts precious metals like arsenic, gold, silver, lead and cadmium, leaving behind earth that is rich in beneficial minerals. According to Leonard Nanis, former University of Pennsylvania professor of chemical engineering and lead inventor, the patent also covers the company’s process of mixing the rock powder with bio-waste to create a natural fertilizer suitable for sustainable agriculture. The fertilizer will remineralize and restore plant essential nutrients that have been depleted by conventional chemical fertilizers, he said.

“This patent marks a major advance in the effort to maintain the planet’s food supply,” Dennis Amoroso, AMPI president said. “The planet’s population is growing, yet crop yields are declining as farm soil nutrients decrease. Our fertilizer will restart the soils natural fertility cycle.” Further, he explained, the fertilizer adds nutrients, bacteria and fungi to soil. These elements restart the essential chemistry required for the complex interactions in the plant’s root region. Fungi are needed to produce acids which extract mineral nutrients from rock particles and deliver to the growing plants. Enzymes, bacteria and organisms act together to assist growth.

The addition of rock powder to soil acts as a restorative, unlike synthetic fertilizers that function once and do not contribute to soil viability. While the process of adding rock powder is well-recognized for nutrient elements in farm soil, it is in short supply. Which is why the billions of tons of mine waste offers such an extraordinary opportunity.

However, the conventional methods of extracting heavy metals from mine waste requires toxic chemicals which are counter-productive and destroy the environment as well as any potential for using the remains. “With our patented process that removes heavy metals without using toxic chemicals, we have access to mine waste—almost an unlimited supply,” Amoroso continued. “We can extract the left over gold, silver, mercury and arsenic, and convert the deep-core earth into a natural fertilizer
that will revitalize farm topsoil.”

AMPI has begun work with abandoned gold and silver mines in California, Nevada and a coal mine in Colorado. Once the mine waste is clean and removed for fertilizer, the remaining areas are safe for recreational or residential activities. Plant Nutrition Technologies is AMPI’s sister company. It mixes the mine waste with biomass to create a 100 percent natural fertilizer. Called PoweRoc, this natural fertilizer is rich in minerals, bacteria and fungi, which will rebalance crop and farm soil, increasing yield in an environmentally safe manner.

In California, PoweRoc is produced in Plymouth, using the waste from the Empire mine, one of the state’s historic Gold Rush mining operations. It is then used on almond and walnut orchards, replacing chemical fertilizers. Besides rebalancing the soil, the product has a natural ability to reduce the amount of water needed for a crop, which is critical in California’s farm industry.

For more information about AMPI or Plant Nutrition Technologies, call Grant Cooke,
925-989-7117.
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