Illustration: Maura Kearns/Axios
PH7 Technologies, a startup that extracts metals from recycled and mining materials, raised $25.6 million
to scale its tech in mining, CEO Mohammad Doostmohammadi tells Axios Pro.
Why it matters: Soaring demand for critical minerals like copper is leading to renewed interest in mining
technologies.
Zoom in: Fine Structure Ventures led the initial close of the Series B round, and the VC arm of mining
giant BHP, BHP Ventures, joined as a strategic investor.
- The company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, expects the round to exceed $30 million following
future closings.
How it works: PH7 Technologies has developed an electrochemical process that can pull metals out of
mining and recycling waste and materials without generating wastewater and using low voltage.
- The company has a small commercial demonstration plant in Vancouver, processing 30 to 50 metric
tons of materials from recycled waste per month, says Doostmohammadi. - The plant extracts metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium from sources like old vehicle catalytic
converters, diesel filters and industrial catalysts.
The company’s recycling metals plants can cost $10 million to $20 million, and its mine deployments can
be as little as $5 million.
- PH7 plans to build a demonstration facility for the mining industry, extracting metals like copper from
low-grade ores and tailings.
Zoom out: The extraction plants are meant to be built on-site at mining and recycling facilities,
developing a distributed system, compared to the mega smelters built around the world.
- “The beauty of our process is that it’s localized so we can build these modular plants anywhere in the
world, closer to the supply,” says Doostmohammadi.
The big picture: There’s a lot of demand for critical metals, used in things like data centers and batteries,
but China dominates the processing of them.
- As a result, companies, investors and the U.S. government are trying to invest in domestic mineral
supply chains and scale up next-gen technologies. - PH7 aims to build out mining facilities in Canada and Chile and recycling facilities in the U.S. and
Japan.
