Critical Need
The energy transition and urbanization are increasingly driving the need for new infrastructure and therefore the demand for metals. While mining is declining as a source of metals due to lengthy permitting cycles, numerous metals can be extracted from existing mining waste, or mine tailings. Due to their toxic and hazardous nature, mine tailings present significant liabilities for the environment and lifetime liability for the companies managing them. They also contain metals of value. For example, for every ton of aluminum produced from bauxite ores, four tons of waste (“red mud”) are landfilled—and each ton of red mud contains over $1,100 in critical metals.

Technology Vision
FAST Metals’ technology combines multiple mining waste streams to produce commoditized metals and derivatives. Through the application of selective leaching and precipitation processes, FAST Metals optimizes the solubility and reactivity of target metals within bauxite residue (red mud) to enable the effective extraction of critical elements such as aluminum, iron, titanium and rare earth metals, which were previously lost in waste streams. FAST Metals’ cutting-edge method utilizes multiple waste streams on-site as inputs, making the technology easily scalable at a single site.

Potential for Impact
FAST Metals’ innovative process has the potential to revolutionize critical element waste management. By transforming hazardous byproducts into valuable resources, FAST Metals shrinks the ecological footprint of industrial operations, reduces the costs and liability risks of mine tailings, and advances a circular economy. Meanwhile, it can generate an estimated $1,100 per ton of waste—extracting 50 percent more revenue from red mud compared to incumbents. Further, FAST Metals could make an immense impact to reduce the CO₂ emissions of an industry that accounts for five to seven percent of the world’s carbon footprint, or about one gigaton of CO₂ per year worldwide.