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(TNS) — The rising number of electric vehicles in both the consumer and industrial sectors means electric vehicle battery companies are going to need an increasing amount of valuable metals. Geologists
The
Bergmann and Lentz note that the majority of industrial waste is exported, primarily to
Bergmann and Lentz view that process as a lost economic opportunity for the
“Here in the
Bergmann and Lentz are partnering with
At the fully permitted and zero-emissions facility, the two companies already have done bench scale tests to prove their proprietary process works. They also have secured a supply of industrial waste, are getting ready for a pilot study and have broken ground on a 15,000-square-foot expansion to the plant in
Bergmann and Lentz had a good year with Big Rock Exploration, though there were pandemic-caused limitations, including the closed Canadian border, that limited some of their field work. They also had a short shutdown due to stay-at-home orders.
The slower pace in 2020 allowed them to focus on the development of some related companies, among them Exsolve.
“The pause in business was a blessing in disguise for Brian and I to recalculate and really amplify a lot of these other things that are ready to be put out into the market,” Bergmann said. “We were successful in getting three new entities basically rolling.”
Besides Exsolve, the two also jump-started two mining-specific projects — Relevant Copper and Relevant Gold, which aim to discover and develop economically sustainable mining operations in the
Exsolve of the three is the furthest along in commercialization. They are also considering licensing the Exsolve technology to other companies.
A 2020 report from the
Bergmann and Lentz envision a closed-loop economic cycle for reclaiming those critical materials already here in industrial waste. Ironically, one of their sources are the spent drill bits used in geological exploration and mining.
President
Other companies also are looking at new ways of recycling to supply the critical minerals needed for EV batteries. But many of those companies are looking at ways to recycle spent lithium ion batteries to reclaim critical minerals.
“We don’t produce most of the material that are in our batteries, so if we can buy them once, keep them here, that creates a big advantage for us,” he said.
So far, Bergmann and Lentz have kept funding pretty close to home, with the most recent round of financing from founders, friends and family. They are eager to reward those investors with an eventual public offering of Exsolve or the two mining companies Relevant Copper and Relevant Gold.
All the deals are independent and structured differently.
“It gave us the ability to more rapidly push one of them toward that public listing point, hopefully in 2021,” Bergmann said.
It helps, too, that those friends and family members have a clear understanding of their goals of finding domestic, responsible and sustainable sources of critical minerals.
“A lot of the same people came into all of the ventures and we saw that as a big boost of support in us and the projects we have going on,” Lentz said.
(c)2021 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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