Funding to advance from lab-scale results to industrial pilot testing as copper demand outpaces supply
Transition Metal Solutions, a startup boosting copper production from existing mining operations and waste, today announced an oversubscribed $6 million seed round led by Transition Ventures, with participation from leading climate and deeptech investors from the US, Europe, and Australia.
The company's proprietary platform analyzes the microbes living in an orebody and predicts, tests, and formulates chemical additives to optimize the specific wild biology and deliver more copper. The concept emerged following work at a major copper mine where some heaps were producing significantly more copper than expected.
When tested on a low-grade primary sulfide ore, lab results showed an increase in copper recovery from 60 to 90 percent. Experiments on ores with challenging mineralogy achieved in situ acid generation and metal leaching three times faster than industry standard.
The investment comes amid surging copper demand driven by the energy transition, renewables, electric vehicles, and AI data center buildouts. Global copper demand is expected to grow 50 percent by 2040.
