Critical Resource Recovery
One biological engine, two feedstocks. The same protocol that detoxifies Sargassum recovers gold, silver, gallium and rare earths from the industrial waste the world has already dug up.
One Biological Engine, Two Feedstocks
The same chemistry that detoxifies Sargassum recovers metals from industrial waste
The hardest gate was the arsenic barrier — and it is cleared
Sargassum hyper-accumulates arsenic at 24–172 ppm, far above the 40 ppm feed limit that shuts competitors out of every high-value market. Our sequential protocol — freshwater wash, mild citric-acid leach, then fermentation — cuts it by up to 94.5%, to 1.6–5.3 mg/kg.
That protocol is selective biological metal capture
Stripping arsenic out of biomass is not a Sargassum trick — it is targeted metal capture at the molecular level. The same fungal and cold-chemistry mechanisms that lock arsenic into an inert matrix pull gold, silver, gallium and rare earths out of industrial waste. The feedstock changes; the engine does not.
What transfers directly
- Selective metal capture — proven at pilot scale.
- EPA-compliant effluent management — the regulatory work is already done.
- Waste-heat co-location playbook — siting beside existing industrial infrastructure.
- AXERP registry traceability — verified chain of custody, gram by gram.
Why Critical Minerals, Why Now
A strategic chokepoint, an unchecked liability, and a way around the constraints of mining
1 A Strategic Chokepoint
90% of rare earth supply is monopolized by foreign rivals — a single point of failure for defence and advanced manufacturing. The NDAA now bans Chinese-sourced rare earth magnets in defence hardware, but the domestic supply to replace them does not yet exist.
2 Unchecked Waste Liabilities
Billions of tons of fly ash, red mud, tailings and e-waste are poisoning watersheds and creating open-ended regulatory exposure for their owners — while permanently locking up critical minerals that current processing cannot economically recover.
Fly Ash
Red Mud
Tailings
E-Waste
3 Breaking the Constraints of Mining
There is $3.4 trillion in trapped metals wealth sitting in dense, high-grade reserves that are already above ground. Conventional mining burns up to 50% of its operational energy on drilling, blasting and pulverizing rock — targeting existing byproducts bypasses that step entirely.
It is the same logic that makes our Sargassum business work: we are paid to take the feedstock. Tipping and remediation fees mean the input arrives at a negative cost basis — the strongest through-line in the entire platform.
| Traditional Mining | DURTEQ | |
|---|---|---|
| CAPEX | +$500M | 5–10% of it, at brownfield sites |
| Time-to-market | 5–10 years | Months |
| Environmental impact | Destructive, harsh chemicals | None |
| Feedstock acquisition | Expensive exploration + land rights | Negative cost basis |
The Technology Stack
Four capabilities, integrated into one deployable production line
AI-Controlled Process Control
A proprietary small language model trained on domain-specific data, tuning the process in real time to increase yield.
Bio-Leaching Fluid
Our proprietary microbial strains — the active agent that makes selective metal capture possible at ambient conditions.
Factory-on-Wheels Extraction
Modular and deployable, using off-the-shelf equipment at every production step to cut cost and time-to-market.
Blockchain Digital Product Passport
Every gram tracked on DURTEQ's own L1 chain — the transparency government regulation increasingly requires.
Why It Defends Itself
Four structural moats, not incremental advantages
Economic Inversion
Miners pay to dig. DURTEQ can be paid to take the "ore" through remediation fees — a structurally negative cost basis no conventional operator can match.
Biological Software Lock
The microbial strains are the operational "software". The hardware is visible and ordinary — and cannot be reverse-engineered without the yield engine inside it.
Speed-to-Market
Co-locating at existing brownfield sites bypasses decade-long permitting cycles, reaching operational status in months rather than years.
Platform Agility
Decoupled from commodity volatility. The same physical footprint shifts its input bias between e-waste, ash and red mud as markets move.
How We Commercialize
DURTEQ is the specialized IP licensor — operators bring the assets
We License the Science
Asset owners and operators fund CAPEX and OPEX. DURTEQ monetizes the intellectual property, the strain supply, and the ongoing science — we are not in the business of building and owning plants.
Per Company, Not Per Site
Licences are granted to a company rather than to a single mine or facility, and they are non-transferable. A licensee may deploy across its own operations worldwide, but cannot pass the licence to a third party.
A Continuing Relationship
Every soil and feedstock has to be characterized and the mycelium prepared specifically for it. DURTEQ stays in the loop for strain preparation, ratio maintenance and continuous product development — the platform does not run without us.
Strategic Traction
Sovereign, academic and industrial partners already engaged
Africa — Red Mud LOI
A strategic Letter of Intent for gallium extraction from industrial red mud, advanced at presidential-level direction.
Appalachian Expansion
University partnerships across the coal basins, validating domestic feedstock quality analytics.
Mining — Americas
An MOU for multiple gold and silver extraction demonstrations, including funding mechanisms and in-kind development contributions.
Global Top-Tier Miner
The head of global technology at a top-tier international mining group has expressed intent to deploy DURTEQ technology once TRL 7 is achieved.
Put a Liability to Work
If you own ash ponds, red mud, tailings or e-waste streams, that inventory is a feedstock. Tell us what you are holding.
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