Outotec has made an agreement worth approximately EUR 16 million with Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation, owned jointly by Barrick Gold Corporation and Goldcorp Inc.

The contract covers the supply of a copper recovery plant based on Outotec® Sulfide Precipitation Process to Pueblo Viejo's gold mine in the Dominican Republic.

Outotec's scope of delivery includes engineering, proprietary and process equipment, instrumentation and automation, as well as supervisory services and spare parts. The plant is supplied as prefabricated skid-mounted units, minimizing the amount of site work and ensuring fast track implementation. The units will be pre-tested at the workshops to ensure safety of the operations. The new plant is scheduled to be commissioned at the end of 2011.

The ore treated in the gold leaching process contains copper, which is removed as copper sulfide. Outotec has developed the Copper Sulfide Precipitation Process, which in collaboration with Barrick Gold Corporation, will be applied in the Pueblo Viejo project. This application utilizes Outotec's proprietary OKTOP® reactor technology and Paques THIOTEQ® bioprocess as hydrogen sulfide source.

Mr Tapani Järvinen CEO of Outotec said “This contract is a significant breakthrough in combining Outotec's hydrometallurgical expertise and Paques' biotechnology in copper production. Our innovative OKTOP® reactors developed in recent years have already been sold to Cobre Las Cruces and Talvivaara projects. Paques THIOTEQ® is complementing our process and enabling us to offer larger process solutions to our customers.”