Minerals Recovery of Copper Stamp Sand on Lake Superior Coastline for Use as Raw Material in the Manufacture of Roofing Shingles: Phase 2

Stamp sands (a waste tailing product) from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan copper mining days were examined in the Phase I portion of this study for its application possibilities in the asphalt roofing shingle market as a laptop granule. Through rigorous testing we found the larger particle size portion of the byproduct to be economically and environmentally applicable as roofing granules (G-sand) for asphalt shingles and bituminous rooting applications. Surprisingly, we have also found great interest in industrial applications for the tine product remaining after screening the G-sand for the granule application. With these recently gained insights Lesktcch Limited is confident that commercial and industrial applications can be found to re-utilize 100%, of the stamp-sand by-product now exposed upon Lake Superior shorelines along the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Biological testing from the Phase I study has proven that the metallic copper existing in the G-sand rock matrix acts as an anti-algaecide agent. In our Phase II study Lesktech will design and operate a 1-5 ton per hour pilot plant to process the stampsand material. The G-sand will be sized and stored to keep the material dry: shingle manufacturer specifications require granules to not exceed 1% moisture so as to assure the asphalt is capable of adhering to the mineral. Industrial sized testing trials will be negotiated with companies such as Johns Manville to process the required amount of G-sand in order 10 accommodate each plants requirement; we foresee test batches of up to 20 tons per plant. The remaining fines material will have a representative portion removed and submitted to scientists at the Institute of Materials Processing (IMP) Michigan Technological University (MTU) for industrial application testing. The other portion of the tines will be stored for future testing by industrial partners.