What old mine waste does
A slow leak that never switches off.
When a mine closes, its waste doesn’t go anywhere. Tailings and waste rock sit exposed to rain, wind and time, slowly releasing acid and heavy metals into the surrounding environment. Without intervention, the damage continues long after the last tonne of ore is extracted.
Acid drainage
Rain soaks through exposed waste rock and turns acidic, carrying arsenic, lead, zinc and cadmium into creeks and groundwater. It continues indefinitely without intervention.
Toxic dust
Dry tailings blow across farmland and towns, spreading fine metal-bearing particles for decades. Communities near legacy sites carry elevated health risks long after mines close.
Failing dams
Ageing tailings dams were built to older standards. A single structural failure can contaminate an entire river system — a risk that grows as infrastructure ages.
Who pays today
When a mine closes, the liability often outlives the company
Australia’s legacy mine sites carry rehabilitation costs estimated in the billions. Much of that falls to governments and communities — not the operators who created the problem.
Conventional clean-up means digging waste up, capping it, trucking it away and monitoring it indefinitely. It costs money and earns nothing back.
A 25,000-tonne stockpile at 0.5 g/t gold holds about A$2M of contained gold value.
At 50% recovery, roughly A$1M goes back into the site
Clean-up that pays for itself
The metals in the waste fund the work
Legacy waste still holds gold, silver and critical minerals that older methods couldn’t recover. When we recover those metals, the clean-up generates revenue, so sites that were never worth cleaning up can now be cleaned up.
Left as it is
Metals and contaminants loose in waste, exposed to rain and snowmelt
Leaves behind reactive waste needing permanent management
Funded by owners, governments, taxpayers
Site fenced off and monitored
With Myco Metals
Metals and contaminants drawn into a contained liquid that can be captured and treated
Leaves behind a cleaner residue, ready for rehabilitation
Cost partly offset by recovered metal
Site back toward productive use: land, tourism, community
Policy is moving our way
New laws and funding are opening up legacy sites
For decades, the risk of inheriting someone else’s liability kept would-be cleaners away from abandoned mines. That’s changing. New legislation, dedicated rehabilitation funding and a push for secure critical mineral supply are all making legacy sites easier, and more worthwhile, to clean up.
United States
The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act (2024) reduces liability for third parties who voluntarily clean up abandoned mines. That has historically been the main barrier.
State programmes
Colorado’s Inactive Mine Reclamation Program and Australian state rehabilitation funds are actively paying for legacy-site clean-up.
Critical minerals
Governments want domestic supply. Recovering metals from existing waste means no new mine.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Myco Metals is aligned with five of the UN’s global goals.
Environmental claims without data are just marketing. As we scale, we’ll publish measured outcomes for each site — water quality, material treated, land rehabilitated and emissions compared to conventional processing.
Clean Water & Sanitation
Reducing acid drainage and metal contamination in waterways and groundwater.
Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
An innovative, nature-based industrial process that replaces toxic conventional methods.
Sustainable Cities & Communities
Rehabilitating legacy mine sites back toward productive community and agricultural use.
Responsible Consumption & Production
Recovering metals from waste rather than extracting new resources from the ground.
Life on Land
Returning contaminated land to ecological health and productive landholding.