Background
As global demand for critical minerals surges fueled by EVs, data centers, and renewables supply chains face risks from trade wars and export bans. This undermines national sovereignty, pushing for self-reliant options. CSIRO’s integrated biomining technology uses microbes to leach metals like copper and nickel from e-waste. Unlike high-energy smelters, it cuts costs and emissions. Globally approximately 62M tonnes of electronic waste are generated annually representing $91B worth of metals that the project’s integrated biomining technology could tap into.
Research Project Milestones
2025:
- ✅ Jan-Jun: Completed e-waste pre-processing and characterization; shredded printed circuit boards were assayed
- ✅ Jan-Apr: Revived over 20 cultures and scaled up the cultures in preparation for biolixiviant production.
- ✅ Feb-May: Built bench-scale biolixiviant reactors
- ✅ Apr-May: Achieved >97 % efficiency in biooxidant production substrate utilization for biogenic acid production.
- ✅ Apr-Jul: Completed the design for bench-scale bioleaching units
- ✅ Jul-Aug: Secured microbes and designed reactor for generating biogenic agent for metal precipitation
- 🔜 Sep-Dec: Metal-recovery flowsheet finalized and scheduled to start once leachate is available, keeping the project on its critical path
2026:
- Jan-Mar: Setup of reactor for metal recovery
- Jan-Sep: Biological reagent generation for metal recovery
- Apr-Dec: Metal recovery experiments and optimization'
ValleyDAO's Rationale for Funding
The research group at ValleyDAO surveyed academic labs globally working in biomining and selected Dr Kaksonen's project team at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Their detailed techno-economic analysis and previous research results indicate strong scalability potential of the technology.
