CIA’s venture capital arm invests in Colorado-based critical minerals startup

Colorado-based critical minerals extraction start-up Alta Resource Technologies announced Monday it has expanded its Series Seed funding to $10 million with the close of an additional $4.4 million investment.  The investment was co-led by DCVC and Voyager Ventures with participation from Orion Industrial Ventures and In-Q-Tel (IQT) – a non-profit strategic investor and the CIA’s venture capital arm.  Alta said the new capital will accelerate development and commercialization of its platform, which uses engineered proteins to selectively bind to and separate critical minerals—including rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium—from low-grade ores and complex waste streams.  The company said the approach aims to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of mineral extraction while helping to secure domestic supply chains for essential materials used in advanced electronics, clean energy technologies, and modern defense systems.  Critical-mineral supply chains are dominated by China, and the concentration of control has raised alarms about economic and national security. In March, the White House issued an executive order  aimed at boosting domestic mineral production and reducing U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains.  Alta said its technology offers a timely and scalable solution: a low-impact way to extract high-purity critical minerals from unconventional and previously uneconomic sources.  “Securing resilient, low-impact sources of critical minerals is no longer optional for America and its allies—it’s a strategic imperative,” Alta co-founder and CEO Nathan Ratledge, PhD said in a news release.  “Washington is beginning to respond with the kind of wartime urgency this moment demands, and Alta’s technology is uniquely positioned to deliver. Our protein-based platform gives the US a scalable way to tap into unconventional mineral resources right here at home, while slashing both costs and environmental impact,” Ratledge said.  Alta’s platform is based on protein engineering breakthroughs developed in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and researchers at Pennsylvania State University.  By customizing proteins to bind selectively to individual elements—even at low concentrations in complex mixtures—Alta said its solution offers greater precision than conventional separation methods, and that the result is a step-change in the efficiency, sustainability, and economics of processing rare earths and other critical materials. The company will use the new funding to expand its technical team, advance commercial pilots, and extend its technology to a broader range of metal targets and feedstocks, including mine tailings, waste streams, and end-of-life products.  “Alta’s protein-based platform demonstrates the promise of engineering biology to address significant national security challenges,” said Dr. Jessica Dymond, VP, Technology at IQT.  “We are excited about supporting Alta’s technological innovation to diversify the nation’s sources of critical minerals and advance domestic processing capabilities.”  The new funding brings Alta’s total Series Seed investment to $10 million, building on  initial funding announced in January. In addition to private capital, Alta has also received grant support from federal partners and the State of Colorado. Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com