Startup Fights Copper Shortage With Prebiotics

The global copper supply is under immense pressure, with projections indicating a potential severe shortfall by 2040 as demand from electrification and technology outpaces new discoveries. This looming deficit has spurred significant investment in mining and exploration, yet one innovative startup is tackling the problem from a different angle: enhancing what’s already being pulled from the ground. Transition Metal Solutions believes it can dramatically increase copper recovery using a novel biological approach, effectively applying prebiotics to optimize the microbial communities naturally present in mining operations.

To scale this promising technology, the company has secured a $6 million seed funding round. The investment was led by Transition Ventures and included participation from a consortium of firms such as Astor Management AG, Climate Capital, and SOSV.

For decades, the industry has recognized that microbes play a crucial role in liberating copper from ore through a process called heap leaching. Traditionally, efforts to boost output have focused on isolating or engineering specific bacterial strains and introducing them to ore piles. According to Sasha Milshteyn, co-founder and CEO of Transition Metal Solutions, this method has largely disappointed. These introduced microbes often fail to thrive or deliver only a temporary benefit, partly because they ignore the complex, interdependent nature of microbial ecosystems.

Milshteyn points out a fundamental knowledge gap. The extreme, acidic environment of a heap leach is difficult to replicate in a laboratory. Consequently, over 90% of the microbes present in ore are unculturable and previously unstudied. Past industry efforts, he argues, have only addressed the tiny 5% fraction that scientists can grow in a lab, missing the vast, untapped potential of the entire community.

Instead of betting on a few “star” microbes, Transition’s strategy is to nurture the entire indigenous microbial network. The company uses low-cost, mostly inorganic additives, similar to prebiotics, that are already found at mine sites. This approach aims to shift the whole community into a higher functional state, encouraging all the microbes to work more efficiently at extracting metal. In controlled lab tests, this method has increased copper recovery from 60% to an impressive 90% of the available metal.

The company anticipates real-world results will be somewhat lower but still transformative. Where traditional heap leaches typically recover 30% to 60% of the copper, Transition aims to lift that range to between 50% and 70% or higher. Because each mine hosts a unique microbial population, the startup will customize its additive cocktail based on initial analysis of the ore. Over time, as more data is gathered, the goal is to predict the optimal treatment in advance.

Proving the concept to the conservative mining industry is the next critical step. Funding from the seed round will finance third-party validation through an independent metallurgy lab, a necessary hurdle for establishing credibility. Following successful lab tests, the plan is to progress to a large-scale demonstration on a heap containing tens of thousands of tons of material.

Milshteyn underscores the urgency of improving efficiency, noting that current operations leave a substantial majority of copper behind. With a global shortage on the horizon, technologies that maximize recovery from existing mines could be a vital part of the solution, turning waste into a valuable resource and helping to secure the materials essential for a cleaner, more connected future.

(Source: TechCrunch)