Gold from Seawater:
THE BLAST
April 1, 2004
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THE FIRST, MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN NANOTECHNOLOGY:
SYNTHESIZING GOLD FROM SEA WATER
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By Porter Stansberry
"The solubility, and therefore the transport, of AU (gold) in
sedimentary basins has traditionally been attributed to Cl- in
oxidizing environments. However recent work highlighted two important
points. Firstly the predominant Au species in most natural waters is
AuOH (H2O)... "
-- D.M. Heasman, University of Bristol [Source 1]
When you see gold appear in the centrifuge for the first time, it
will frighten you.
You don't expect it to really be there. But when it doesn't fade or
melt away, all your instincts still expect it to disappear, as though
you dreamed it. Its existence, at the bottom of a bioreactor, is
counter to all you know to be true. Gold simply cannot be created out
of seawater you tell yourself...
Then you pick it up and hold it up under light. It could be nothing
else. It's too heavy. Too brilliantly yellow. Too malleable. And yet
you still can't believe it.
Creating gold from "nothing" is science's oldest dream. It was the
quest of the alchemists, the scientists of the Enlightenment who
brought us so much scientific achievement, but never gold from lead.
Today however, at a secret location near Tacoma Washington, one small
group of scientists accomplished what nanotechnologists have dreamt
about for forty years: they've devised a way to aggregate single
atoms of gold from seawater. I have seen the lab with my own eyes,
and for the last three years David Lashmet and I have been helping to
organize the funding for the endeavor.
SYNTHESIS, NOT ALCHEMY
Before you read any further, please note: there is no claim here of
transmuting gold from any other metal. This is not alchemy. No, what
has been done is simply compiling and aggregating single atoms of
gold into much, much larger particles. These nanoparticles (typically
5-15 nanometers in size) are then isolated and joined together in a
process that yields an ounce of gold about every six hours, per
bioreactor. After all costs and at current prices, production earns
about $1,000 per day, per reactor - highly economical rates of
production.
For obvious reasons, this amazing scientific achievement will shortly
become a major news story. For less obvious reasons, it portents a
major shift in economics; you see, if the ideas of nanotechnology and
the tools of biology can manufacture gold from seawater, there is
little practical limit to any future material production. The same
technologies could allow oil to be manufactured from granite, for
example.
Many scientists and geologists through the years have pointed to the
supply of gold in seawater. After all, the largest reserve of gold in
the world has always been the ocean. If the gold particles found in
every ounce of seawater could be synthesized, the global supply of
gold would increase by a factor of 10,000... or more. Or, in other
words, there is 10,000 times more gold in seawater than all the gold
that has ever been or could ever be mined.
But until now there hasn't been any way to harvest this supply
economically.
Early in 2003, a group of seven Indian scientists, using common
Rhodococcus bacteria were able to extract gold from a solution of
gold-chloride, a common waste product of gold mining. This suggests
economically viable recovery of gold from mine site waste - a
significant accomplishment.
These results were published in June 2003, in the journal
Nanotechnology [Source 2]:
"In this paper, we report on the use of an alkalotolerant
actinomycete (Rhodococcus sp.) in the intracellular synthesis of gold
nanoparticles of the dimension 5-15 nm. Electron microscopy analysis
of thin sections of the gold actinomycete cells indicated that gold
particles with good monodispersity were formed on the cell wall as
well as on the cytospasmic membrane... "
Although powerful and historic, this demonstration of biotechnology
using the principles of nanotechnology is only a beginning. Other
scientists have accomplished similar feats on a non-economic basis,
for example isolating nanoparticles of gold and silver in alfalfa
plants. [Source 3]
What my friends in Tacoma have done is determine which specific
genetic mutations offer the highest yield in processing gold
particles with bacteria. The higher the yield, the more disperse the
gold in media may be and still yield economically viable levels of
production. Thus, while some researchers have demonstrated
bio-production with a rich medium - gold mine waste product - no one
has yet demonstrated gold production from seawater (AuOH), a much
more highly dispersed gold medium.
Although I cannot yet make their identities public, you will
recognize these mens' names from my earlier extensive coverage of the
genomic industry. They are already the most famous scientists in the
field. And yet their latest accomplishment will make even their
earlier triumphs seem minor in comparison.
The current production line - David was there yesterday -- consists
of only one bioreactor, which since November of last year has been
processing seawater on six hour cycles with interruptions only to
change out bacteria and extract gold. To date the average yield is
approximately one ounce of gold per six-hour cycle.
After production costs, this equals about $1,000 per day in revenue,
per bioreactor.
There are no obvious impediments to ramping up production: the raw
materials are bacteria, seawater and glucose (sugar). A small amount
of electricity is also needed to catalyze the reaction and to
separate the gold from the mitochondria in the bacteria, but nothing
that would require a major investment in energy infrastructure.
The company's founders have chosen to keep this project totally
private. However, yesterday they received word from the U.S. patent
office that their filing is complete and accepted. They've agreed to
publish a copy of the modified genome and move forward with the
peer-review process to document their accomplishments. According to
the editors of the scientific journal Nature, this review and
publishing process will be completed in time for the June issue.
Immediately following publication, the company plans to unveil itself
and host a public demonstration of its technology - in real time.
Best of all, because of my ties to the founders, I've been allowed to
invite a handful of you to join us for this historic scientific
event.
THE COMPANY AND THE IPO
In regard to the investment implications, because this technology is
solely intellectual property - it requires very little capital - the
number of investors must be severely restricted.
The company's business plan (I helped write it) calls for selling a
10% stake to the public for $50 million (valuing the company at $500
million). We believe our first year's gold production will be worth
at least $100 million. From there, we can obviously fund any other
capital needs we may incur. Our raw materials are seawater, bacteria
and sugar. Our tools are standardized biotechnology devices, which
are mass produced and re-usable. Even with the limited production we
have at present, our gross margins have exceeded 90%.
Our intent is to restrict gold production to an amount that does not
affect global prices (we do not want to flood the market). Instead,
we will seek to produce other valuable commodity products that can be
synthesized from nature. And in fact, we have already begun
production of many rare metals - also extracted from seawater.
Our patents, on gold production alone, will last for at least 17
years and we believe these may be extended as we develop newer,
higher yielding variations on our basic production line.
A MILLION-DOLLAR PER PERSON IPO
The 10% stake to be sold will consist of five million shares, with a
face value of $10 each. We anticipate the price of these shares will
exceed face value by a very wide margin once they begin trading
because of the value of the technology and the small float of stock
to be offered. Although any projection of share price could only be a
guess, bankers tell us that $100 a share is where trading will
probably start.
Pirate Investor's deal with the company allows us to bring in 50
individual investors. If, after you've read more about the technical
specifics, you'd like to meet the management team and see the
technology for yourself, you will be invited to travel to Seattle in
June. If, at that time, you'd like to buy shares, you may enter a
lottery from which 50 people will be allowed to buy a maximum of
1,000 shares each. By the way, this is the same stake that David
Lashmet and I both hold personally. We expect our stakes to be worth
over $1 million each on the first day's trading. The IPO is
tentatively scheduled for November, depending of course, on market
conditions.
Whether it's possible for you to invest or not, we'd be pleased to
have you participate in our celebration and the unveiling of what we
believe is the world's next great technology.
The demonstration is tentatively scheduled for June 20th, 2004 at the
Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle, Washington. We will begin our
demonstration at 9:30 am, continue with a financial presentation,
board meeting and lunch break. At 3:30 PM, six hours later, you'll
witness the centrifuge process and the melt. We should be able to
sell our ounce in Hong Kong before midnight local time, at which
point a champagne toast will be served.
To register now for the meeting (there's no obligation to invest),
please click here:
Best regards,
Porter Stansberry
www.pirateinvestor.com
