How one startup is using prebiotics to try to alleviate copper deficiency

Five years from now, the world may begin to run short of copper, a vital metal used in everything from data centers to electric cars. In the absence of any changes, the world may face a severe deficit As early as 2040With demand exceeding supply by up to 25%.

If copper seems expensive today, just wait a few years.

Companies and investors are pumping money into the sector as demand increases. For example, AI metal startup KoBold has sparked excitement $537 million last year To exploit the copper reserves it found in Zambia.

But with a little help from some microbes, today’s copper producers may be able to overcome the shortage. one start, Transition metal solutionsShe says she has found a way to increase copper production by 20% to 30% using additives to enhance microbial performance. Think of it as a prebiotic for copper mines.

To scale its technology, Transition Metal Solutions has raised a $6 million seed round, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The round was led by Transition Ventures with participation from Astor Management AG, Climate Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, Essential Capital, Juniper VC, Kayak Ventures, New Climate Ventures, Possible Ventures, SOSV, and Understorey Ventures.

Microbes have always been a major player in the world of copper, helping the metal shed its metallic form so we can refine it into pure metal. Companies have been working for years on getting microbes to extract more copper from ore, but according to Sasha Milstein, co-founder and CEO of Transition, they’ve been going about it the wrong way.

Typically, companies isolate or engineer strains that show promise in enhancing copper production. They grow large quantities of it and pour it over a pile of ore, where the microbes sink in and go to work.

“Overall this has not come to fruition,” Milshteyn told TechCrunch. “A lot of times, they’ll see some sort of boost early on and then it kind of tapers off — or they don’t see any boost at all.”

Part of the problem, Milstein believes, is that microbes are not single actors. It’s like casting a star without a supporting cast. Microbes live in diverse communities where each plays a role. Increasing the population of one breed can only do so much.

Another part of the problem is that we have only scratched the surface of understanding the microbes present in ore piles. “When you look at the microbial community in the material, usually over 90% of it is stuff we’ve never seen before,” Milshtein said.

The conditions inside a leach pile, as acid-filled ore piles are called, are difficult to replicate in the laboratory. The pH is low, around two, and there are clays and other minerals floating around, all of which undermine the usual molecular tools scientists use to understand microbial communities.

“Everything the industry has done has really focused on that little bit that people have been able to grow in the lab,” he said. “It’s usually the 5% range you can farm.”

So instead of trying to isolate a few stars, Transition works to uplift the entire community. The company applies low-cost compounds, mostly inorganic, that are already found on mining sites.

“What we’re focusing on is not necessarily promoting one or two species, but trying to push the population toward a higher functional state,” he said. “We observed this in the laboratory.”

In laboratory samples to which Transition applied its proprietary mixture, the startup was able to extract 90% of the copper from the ore, compared to 60% using traditional methods.

Outside the laboratory, Milshtein expects the effectiveness to drop a little, but not by much. Conventional heap leaching extracts about 30% to 60% of the copper present in the ore. He believes the shift could reach at least 50% to 70%, and possibly higher.

Each mine has a different microbial community, so Transition plans to customize its additives based on initial testing. As the company collects more data, Milstein believes that eventually he and his team will be able to predict what a mine needs in advance.

At this rate, the company’s prebiotics could solve copper deficiency before it starts. But first, Transition has to prove to the mining industry that its solution works. The company plans to work with a third-party mining lab that is well-known in the mining world. “Without third-party results, no one is going to believe you,” Milstein said. The money from the seed round should cover that phase of testing.

After Transition proves its effectiveness in the laboratory, it will apply its treatment to a demonstration stack containing tens of thousands of tons of material. With luck, it will then spread its technology to copper mines around the world.

“We leave 65 percent of the material behind” in typical mines, Milstein said. “Maybe we can make as much of it as we can.”

Update at 8 a.m. PT: The article previously referred to Transition supplements as probiotics rather than prebiotics.