By Andrew Klips · Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Catalyst Resource Group, Inc. (OTCQB: CATA), a precious metals recovery and technologies company having three proprietary extraction technologies to obtain precious metals from ores and discarded tailings, similar to companies like Energy Recovery Inc. (Nasdaq: ERII) and Joy Global Inc. (Nasdaq: JOYG), may offer metals and mining traders a new way to find value. With pundits repeatedly forecasting a gold ‘correction’, enhanced metals recovery companies become more attractive.

Even If Pundits Are Wrong…

As gold soars north- already past $1600 per ounce- that steady climb evokes the usual investor fear known as The Wall of Worry. With this naturally come the forecasts of technical analysts who are only too happy to oblige the worriers with mathematical confirmation of their worst fears. But so far, in the past nine months, the dire predictions have failed to materialize, or were only matched by relatively minor corrections in gold prices.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a major correction sometime soon- time will tell. But whether the pundits are right or wrong, a precious metals portfolio can only benefit by having companies in it which can extract the maximum in product from their holdings, or which can sell proprietary technology to other companies to do so.

More Bang For Each Buck

Catalyst Resource plays three ends of the mining game. They not only have efficient proprietary extraction systems but also operate major mining interests at their Beluga mining project in Alaska, along with a recovery laboratory in Downey, CA. The Southern California lab enables them to maximize extractions of platinum, gold, rhodium, and palladium from any mining source. In its first year, the California plant is expected to recover $12,000,000 worth of precious metals.

Company Extraction And Recovery Technologies

Catalyst Resource notes three proprietary technologies on its website. Two of these are under U.S. patent protection; one is held as a trade secret.

Catalyst’s patented systems include its Vorsana Tri-Phase Separator and Vorsana Gas Scrubber. These are very complex systems but, in general, the Separator operates on centrifugal force to separate solids, liquids, and gases in a single pass, making it far more efficient than many other separation systems. The Scrubber may be of particular economic value to other companies, as its function is to use density differentials between lighter, benign gases such as oxygen and nitrogen, and heavier, polluting gases to release the benign gases to the atmosphere and sequester polluting gases in a holding tank. The use of this technology can simplify meeting state and local air quality regulations for companies.

Catalyst’s other technology, protected only as a trade secret, “targets gold, platinum, palladium, and rhodium,” according to the company website, and “uses a series of precise actions and leaching… shown to recover up to 10,000% more metals in certain cases.”

This combination of active mining and recovery systems may make Catalyst a good addition to a metals portfolio, regardless of which way gold moves.