FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Geologists Brian Lentz, left, and Rob Bergmann discovered that industrial waste streams hold rich concentrations of critical electronic-vehicle battery metals. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)
This company wants to ‘mine’ garbage to find metals for EV batteries
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 Rob Bergmann and Brian Lentz think they have found an answer by extracting cobalt, copper and nickel from industrial waste streams.
The Minneapolis-based geologists that own Big Rock Exploration and several mining-related firms have formed a developmental stage company called Exsolve Recycling Technologies to mine the industrial waste for the short-in-supply metals.