Post: As gold prices rise, extraction chemistry is becoming a bottleneck - BNN Bloomberg

BNN Blomberg: Market One Media Group

Published: February 03, 2026, at 9:57AM EST

Gold prices have been climbing steadily on familiar macro forces: inflation concerns, geopolitical uncertainty, and a gradual erosion of confidence in fiat currencies. When those conditions converge, capital traditionally finds its way back into gold.

What has changed in this cycle is where constraints are emerging. Increasingly, the most closely watched developments inside the gold sector are not just about new discoveries or reserve growth, but about whether existing ounces can be economically and permissibly recovered under modern regulatory, environmental, and technical conditions.

That shift has drawn attention to companies focused on extraction and processing technologies, including RZOLV Technologies Inc. (TSXV: RZL).

RZOLV Technologies is a clean-technology company focused on non-cyanide gold extraction chemistry rather than mineral ownership. Its work is centered on a structural issue emerging across the gold industry — while gold prices have strengthened, the tools used to liberate gold are facing growing constraints.

Industry data increasingly point to permitting complexity, ore mineralogy, and processing chemistry as meaningful factors shaping project economics. RZOLV Technologies’ President and CEO Duane Nelson has described this as a growing mismatch between modern mining conditions and legacy extraction chemistry.

There are more than 1,350 active gold mines operating globally across more than 150 countries, collectively producing thousands of tonnes of gold each year. At the same time, bringing new mines into production remains slow and capital-intensive. Industry research shows that dozens of major gold projects worldwide remain stuck in pre-production and permitting phases, often for many years.

With new supply moving at that pace, innovation inside existing processing infrastructure becomes a more immediate lever.

Cyanide faces rising regulatory and permitting scrutiny

For more than a century, cyanide has been the backbone of gold extraction. Its effectiveness, scalability, and cost profile made it the dominant chemistry in gold processing, and it still plays a role in the majority of global production today.

However, the operating environment around cyanide has changed. Even where its use remains legal, mines are facing longer permitting timelines, higher containment and monitoring requirements, increased insurance and closure costs, and growing scrutiny from regulators, investors, and local communities.

These pressures do not eliminate cyanide’s role, but they do raise the cost and complexity of deploying it, particularly in environmentally sensitive jurisdictions or where ore mineralogy complicates recovery.

Processing chemistry as a competitive variable

Gold exposure is often framed in two simple lanes: owning the metal itself or owning mining equities. In practice, mining performance can diverge significantly from metal prices due to geology, cost inflation, permitting delays, political risk, and operational challenges.

This is why processing and recovery technologies can become increasingly important during strong gold cycles. Higher prices encourage operators to process more material, revisit marginal zones, and re-evaluate complex feedstocks that were previously uneconomic. As throughput increases, recovery chemistry becomes a central variable.

Nelson has noted that higher gold prices combined with tighter environmental rules are increasing interest in alternative extraction chemistry, particularly where conventional approaches introduce permitting risk or cost volatility.

RZOLV™ and the search for non-cyanide alternatives

RZOLV Technologies’ core offering is a water-based, non-cyanide hydrometallurgical formula designed to recover gold in conditions where cyanide use is restricted, ineffective, or difficult to permit.

Industry literature has long shown that cyanide performance is highly dependent on ore type, operating environment, and regulatory context. Certain ore bodies, concentrates, and jurisdictions fall outside cyanide’s most efficient operating window, leading operators to explore alternative approaches.

RZOLV Technologies is targeting these specific segments rather than positioning its technology as a universal replacement.

The company’s progress has been supported by independent metallurgical testing conducted by third-party laboratories, including ALS and SGS. These programs have demonstrated gold recoveries and leach kinetics comparable to conventional cyanide systems under the specific conditions tested.

Beyond laboratory work, RZOLV Technologies completed an on-site 100-tonne bulk-scale program. A key outcome of that program was that gold recovery followed a conventional flowsheet through to metal production. Gold was dissolved into solution, recovered onto standard activated carbon, and ultimately produced as a physical doré gold bar.

That result is significant because it demonstrates compatibility with existing recovery infrastructure, which is often a major adoption barrier for new processing chemistry.

From validation to on-site operations

Building on that groundwork, RZOLV Technologies has signed an operating agreement with Environmental Research and Development to process mineralized material at ERD’s patented mine site in Arizona using an agitated tank leach configuration.

Initial operations are expected at approximately 50 tonnes per day of pre-screened fine material, with the potential to scale toward 100 tonnes per day if performance is sustained. Nelson described the agreement as a step toward extended on-site operations following bulk-scale validation.

The structure of the agreement provides insight into how the technology could translate into operating revenue. Under the initial two-year term, ERD will pay RZOLV Technologies 50 per cent of gross profits, defined as gross revenues less operating costs.

Just as important, the Arizona program is designed as a fully contained operation. The agitated tank leach circuit is intended to operate in a closed-loop configuration, with all process solutions captured, recycled, and managed on-site, and no discharge to surface water or groundwater.

That design aligns with the permitting and ESG realities increasingly shaping mining projects.

Bottom line

The current gold cycle is highlighting multiple pressures on the mining industry at once. Higher prices are encouraging more processing activity, including lower-grade and more complex material, while regulatory and social expectations around extraction chemistry continue to rise.

Cyanide remains a cornerstone of gold processing, but its deployment is becoming more constrained in certain contexts. This has created space for alternative approaches that can operate within tighter permitting and environmental frameworks.

RZOLV Technologies is positioning its non-cyanide chemistry within that gap. The company has progressed from third-party laboratory validation to bulk-scale field testing and metal production, and is now moving into on-site operations under a profit-sharing agreement.

If performance is sustained and adoption expands, RZOLV™ could transition from early-stage validation into a broader technology platform within gold processing — one that offers operators an additional tool as extraction constraints continue to evolve.

---

Disclosure and Cautionary Statement

This article has been prepared and published by Market One Media Group on behalf of RZOLV Technologies Inc. (the “Company”) as part of the Company’s corporate communications and investor relations activities. The article reflects the views and opinions of the author as of the date of publication. Such views and opinions may not necessarily reflect those of the Company’s management. This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of the Company in any jurisdiction. Certain statements contained in this article may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s technology, commercialization plans, market opportunity, regulatory positioning, performance expectations, strategic partnerships, and future growth prospects. Forward-looking information is based on assumptions, expectations, estimates, and projections as of the date of publication and is subject to significant risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise such statements except as required by applicable securities laws. The Company’s directors, officers, employees, and insiders may own securities of RZOLV Technologies Inc. and may have a financial interest in the performance of the Company. Readers are encouraged to review the Company’s continuous disclosure documents available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca, including risk factors described therein.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or approved the contents of this article.