A new chemical process is being developed and refined in British Columbia to allow the mining industry to extract critical minerals with minimal environmental impact. Vancouver-based pH7 Technologies has created a proprietary closed-loop process using advanced chemistry to extract and refine critical metals as per a B.C. government release. The process allows efficient metal extraction from low-grade resources or difficult substrates in a cost-effective way.
pH7 Technologies founder and CEO Mohammad Doostmohammadi expressed the company’s commitment to a clean, green future through their technology. The company aims to bring a clean-tech solution to scale the extraction of metals, making existing processes more sustainable and cost-effective. PH7 will conduct a pilot project using $850,000 from the province’s ICE Fund to process 5,000 kilograms of raw materials per day into approximately 2,500 kilograms of extracted platinum group metals per year.
B.C. Minister of Energy, Mines and Low-Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne stated, “With near net-zero environmental impact in the extraction of critical metals and minerals, pH7 is demonstrating the kind of innovative thinking that can transform mining around the world.” The ICE Fund, established in 2007, supports B.C.’s clean-energy sector by funding projects that reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and promote clean, renewable energy technologies.
