Tailwinds

Grants delivered for critical minerals in the supply chain

Phoenix Tailings announced December 4 that it has been selected to receive $1.6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The funding is part of the Realize Energy-rich Compound Opportunities Valorizing Extraction from Refuse waters (RECOVER) program, which aims to reduce American dependence on critical mineral imports by establishing new, secure domestic supply chains.

The project is directed towards extracting critical materials from non-conventional sources, ultimately supplying feedstock for commercial metallization operations and advancing a fully domestic, end-to-end critical metals supply chain.

As part of this initiative, Phoenix Tailings is developing specialized chemical compounds ("ligands") that form temperature-stable, volatile complexes with critical minerals in dilute brine streams. These ligands can selectively capture valuable minerals, such as rare earths and other critical metals, even when they are present at very low concentrations in wastewater from the oil, gas, and mining industries. This approach enables a novel separation pathway that can help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign supplies of strategic critical minerals.

"Phoenix Tailings is delivering metal to customers today as one of the top producers in the sector. At the same time, our researchers are continuing to develop technology to make America's critical minerals supply chain stronger, faster, and more competitive. This funding is a powerful continuation of our extraction capabilities to unlock unconventional sources of materials," said Nick Myers, co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Tailings.