US-based Alta Resource Technologies has secured $4.4m of additional seed investment to support the development and commercialisation of a platform for biochemical separation of rare earth elements (REEs).
The second seed funding round was co-led by DCVC and Voyager, with participation from Orion Industrial Ventures and In-Q-Tel, an independent, non-profit strategic investor for the US intelligence community and its allies.
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The raise follows an oversubscribed initial round that garnered $5.1m of seed capital. Separately, Alta has received almost $1m in total grant funding from federal partners including the US Department of Defense’s DARPA and the State of Colorado.
The investment comes at a pivotal moment for critical minerals supply chains, many of which are dominated by China.
“Our protein-based platform gives the US a scalable way to tap into unconventional mineral resources right here at home, while slashing both costs and environmental impact,” said Nathan Ratledge, Alta’s co-founder and CEO.
Alta’s platform is based on protein engineering breakthroughs developed in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and researchers at Pennsylvania State University.
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By GlobalDataIt works by customising proteins to bind selectively to individual elements, even at low concentrations in complex mixtures. The result is a step-change in the efficiency, sustainability and economics of processing REEs such as neodymium and dysprosium, the company says.
Alta intends to use the new funding to expand its technical team and advance commercial pilot projects for biochemical separation. It also hopes to extend its technology to mine tailings, waste streams and end-of-life products.
“Alta’s protein-based platform demonstrates the promise of engineering biology to address significant national security challenges,” stated Jessica Dymond, VP, technology at IQT.
“We are excited about supporting Alta’s technological innovation to diversify the nation’s sources of critical minerals and advance domestic processing capabilities,” she added.
REEs, used in advanced electronics, clean energy technologies and modern defence systems, are on the US’ latest critical minerals list. The US classifies five rare earths – dysprosium, iridium, neodymium, praseodymium and terbium – as ‘critical’ for energy over the next decade.
