Five years from now, the world might start running short on copper. This critical mineral is used in everything from data centers to electric vehicles. Without any changes, the world could face a severe shortfall as early as 2040, with demand exceeding supply by as much as 25%. If copper seems expensive today, just wait a few years.
Companies and investors are pouring money into the sector as demand ramps up. For example, AI minerals startup KoBold raised $537 million last year to exploit a copper deposit it found in Zambia.
But with a little help from some microbes, today’s copper producers might be able to beat the shortage. One startup, Transition Metal Solutions, says it has found a way to boost copper production by 20% to 30% using additives to improve microbial performance. Think of it as prebiotics for copper mines.
To scale up its technology, Transition Metal Solutions has raised a $6 million seed round. The round was led by Transition Ventures with participation from several other venture firms.
Microbes have always been key players in the copper world, helping the metal break out of its mineral form so we can refine it. Companies have worked for years to coax microbes into squeezing more copper from ore, but according to Sasha Milshteyn, co-founder and CEO of Transition, they have been going about it the wrong way.
Typically, companies isolate or engineer promising microbial strains, grow them in large quantities, and pour them over an ore heap. Milshteyn stated that approach has largely not paid off, often providing only a temporary boost or none at all.
He suspects part of the problem is that microbes are not solo actors. They live in diverse communities where each plays a role. Boosting one strain can only do so much. Another issue is our limited understanding. Over 90% of microbes in ore heaps have never been seen before, and the harsh, acidic conditions are difficult to replicate in a lab.
Instead of isolating a few star performers, Transition works to raise the entire microbial community up. The company applies low-cost, mostly inorganic compounds already found at mining sites to nudge the community toward a higher functional state.
In lab tests, applying this proprietary cocktail allowed the extraction of 90% of the copper from ore, up from 60% using traditional methods. Milshteyn expects real-world efficacy to be slightly lower but still significant. Traditional heap leaches extract 30% to 60% of the copper. He believes Transition can increase that to at least 50% to 70%.
Each mine has a different microbial community, so Transition will tailor its additives based on initial testing. As more data is gathered, the company hopes to predict a mine’s needs in advance.
At that rate, this approach could solve the copper shortage before it starts. But first, Transition must prove its solution works. The company plans to work with a respected third-party metallurgy lab, as industry belief requires independent verification. Funding from the seed round will cover this testing phase.
After proving it works in the lab, Transition will apply its treatment to a demonstration heap containing tens of thousands of tons of material. With success, it could then deploy the technology globally.
As Milshteyn noted, we are leaving about 65% of the material behind at typical mines. The goal is to get as much out of it as we can.