Metals recovery business MTM Critical Metals has announced a claimed breakthrough in recovering critical minerals from semiconductor waste, solving a problem “previously considered commercially unviable”.

In a statement on Thursday, the ASX-listed company said it achieved a world first in recovering high levels of germanium and gallium “without using acids or environmentally harmful methods” using their proprietary technology.

According to MTM, it was able to salvage about 90 per cent and 80 per cent respectively of gallium and germanium from semiconductor waste from Indium Corporation in the US.

Each material has a place on the Australian and the US critical minerals lists, and both were officially banned from export to the US from China recently “as part of its retaliatory trade measures” against new tariffs.

MTM Managing Director & CEO, Michael Walshe said on Thursday that, “the latest test results for ultra-high-value technology metals couldn’t be timelier given the current geopolitical landscape.”

He added that the two minerals, “are indispensable to semiconductors and defence applications, yet their supply chains remain highly vulnerable due to overwhelming dependence on imports—particularly from China.”

MTM is commercialising a “Flash Joule Heating (FJH)” process, invented by Dr James Tour, the T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, Computer Science, and Materials Science & Nano-Engineering at Rice University in the United States.

FJH is described as using rapid electrothermal processing to extract valuable metals from ores and waste. It has been used to extract tin, palladium, gold, silver, and copper from printed circuit boards without the use of toxic acids.

The company said on Thursday that MTM it is in discussions on supply and offtake agreements, “with plans to begin production by late 2025″ from a US pilot plant with a tonne-per-day capacity, “scaling up rapidly thereafter.”

As well as metals recovery, the company has a stated focus on mineral exploration. In Australia, it holds over 4,500 square kilometres of tenements in three mineral regions in WA.

Picture: credit MTM

Further reading

MTM raises $8 million to progress Flash Joule Heating demo plant

MTM extends the range of recoverable metals from e-waste