At a laboratory in Newark, New Jersey, a gray liquid swirls vigorously inside a reactor the size of a small watermelon. Here, scientists with the mini

New technologies could refine the copper the world needs — without the dirty smelting

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2024-12-04 07:00:07

At a laboratory in Newark, New Jersey, a gray liquid swirls vigorously inside a reactor the size of a small watermelon. Here, scientists with the mining technology startup Still Bright are using a rare metal, vanadium, to extract a common one, copper, from ores that are too difficult or costly for the mining industry to process today.

If the promising results Still Bright is seeing in beakers and bottles can be replicated at much larger scales, it could unlock vast copper resources for the energy transition.

Still Bright isn’t the only company seeking to revolutionize copper production. A handful of startups with similar goals have announced partnerships with major mining firms and scooped up tens of millions of dollars of investment. These companies claim their technology can help meet humanity’s surging appetite for the metal, while driving down the industry’s environmental footprint.

“We’re facing unprecedented demand for copper, and that’s really tied to the electrification of everything,” Still Bright chief of staff Carter Schmitt told Grist.