A Canadian waste management company has acquired a technology platform that will allow it to more effectively recover minerals from batteries and other electronic items, with plans to pilot the technology at a copper recycling facility in British Columbia.
Earthworks Industries finalized its deal to acquire the Critical Minerals Recycling and Recovery System from its creator, Wokaura Art & Innovations, this week. Earthworks, which is publicly traded on the Canadian startup marketplace TSX Venture Exchange, will give Wokaura 4 million shares over the next 24 months as part of the deal, and Wokaura can earn 2 million more bonus shares if several milestones are met.
The system was developed to recover critical minerals from secondary and legacy material streams. It combines physical processing equipment with a cloud-based operating layer that can be used across locations and material streams, using a hub-and-spoke deployment model to allow its use in multiple places with control aggregated regionally.
That aligns with the company mission to recycle minerals in end-of-life electronics and manufacturing byproducts.
“Global demand for secure domestic sources of critical minerals continues to accelerate, while Western supply chains remain constrained and vulnerable,” said Earthworks CEO David Atkinson. “We believe Earthworks is uniquely positioned to participate in this rapidly growing sector through the deployment of scalable, modular recycling and recovery solutions designed to unlock value from secondary and legacy material streams.”
Following the pilot, Earthworks plans to expand use of the platform across North America, and is looking to secure a facility of its own in which to house third-party companies to treat waste.
This move represents the latest move after a lengthy battle to develop a US site left the company without its top option. Through a subsidiary, Cortina Integrated Waste Management, Earthworks had been trying to develop a 443-acre site in Colusa County, California, north of Sacramento, for a waste-handling facility.
A court order terminated the company’s lease for that property late last year, after which time the company said it would shift its focus to new technologies and companies with which to contract for recycling. A few months later, the company revealed its plan involving Wokaura’s system.
