Iondrive Awarded $3.9m Grant to Advance DES Critical Minerals Extraction Technology

Iondrive (ASX: ION) has won a grant of up to $3.9 million under the Australian government’s Industry Growth Program to accelerate the commercialisation of its environment-friendly urban mining technology.

The grant will support the construction of a $4.8m large-scale continuous integrated pilot plant to enable real-world validation of the company’s patented deep eutectic solvent (DES) process for recovering critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt from end-of-life batteries.

It will also potentially enable rapid scale-up of ongoing work in broader urban mining applications, including e-waste and other feedstocks traditionally processed via smelting or acid leaching.

Commercial Potential

Iondrive chief executive officer Dr Ebbe Dommisse said the grant validates the commercial potential of DES technology and the company’s alignment with national priorities in critical minerals, battery recycling and the circular economy.

“This grant is a strong endorsement of our technology and the roadmap we have developed to bring it to market,” he said.

“It supports construction of a continuous pilot facility that will operate under commercial conditions which is a crucial step in scaling our process and demonstrating its performance to customers and offtake partners.”

Iondrive expects to commission the pilot plant in stages, commencing at the end of this year.

National Assessment Process

The grant was awarded through a rigorous and highly-competitive national assessment process and Iondrive is required to match funding for the pilot plant on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

“Government backing will help us accelerate commercialisation, setting the stage for future commercial plants and global expansion,” Dr Dommisse said.

“With applicability across battery waste, ewaste and mining residues, we believe our DES platform can play a meaningful role in sustainable resource recovery and decarbonisation.”

Global E-Waste Market

Global e-waste generation continues to grow rapidly, driven by increased consumption of electronics and shorter product life cycles, with the market reaching an estimated 62 million tonnes in 2022 and analysts forecasting that to rise to 82Mt annually by 2030.

Despite the growing scale, only 22% of this material is formally collected and recycled.

The DES process – which Iondrive developed to address the fast-growing urban mining market – has so far demonstrated superior recovery compared to conventional pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods.

The technology is applicable to e-waste and mining feedstocks, including mixed hydroxide precipitates.