Urban Mining Reimagined

Rare earths and precious metals from the waste stream

MetalBloom is a modular biorefinery that recovers rare earth elements, gold, palladium, copper, and more from electronic waste. Biology where it's efficient. Chemistry where it's necessary. Nothing wasted.

3
Recovery streams in one facility
17+
Recoverable metals from mixed e-waste
90%
Target recovery rate via bioleaching
Three Recovery Streams

One facility. Every metal. Intelligent routing.

Most recyclers shred and smelt everything, or strip with chemicals. MetalBloom separates streams intelligently, applying the right technology to each material for maximum yield at minimum environmental cost.

H₂
HPMS — Hydrogen Processing

Rare Earth Recovery

Hydrogen fractures NdFeB magnets into powder without smelting. Low energy, high purity. Feeds directly into rare earth separation.

Nd Pr Dy
🧬
Bioleaching + Biosorption

Precious Metal Extraction

Engineered microbial communities solubilize copper and bind gold, palladium, and silver to biomass. Up to 90% recovery with minimal chemical exposure.

Au Pd Ag Cu
Selective Hydrometallurgy

High-Value Polishing

XRF analysis determines which residues justify aqua regia refinement. Electrowinning recovers base metals from leach fluid. Every gram accounted for.

Pt Rh Sn Ga
The MetalBloom Advantage

Why hybrid beats single-stream

The recycling industry splits into REE-only players, precious metal smelters, and bio-only startups. None combine all three. That's the gap.

Traditional Smelters

High energy, high carbon. Recover precious metals but ignore rare earths entirely. $10B+ capex to compete.

MetalBloom

Biological processing at ambient temperature. Recovers precious metals AND rare earths. Modular capex, phased deployment.

REE-Only Recyclers

Recover neodymium from magnets but discard everything else. Single revenue stream. Dependent on magnet feedstock.

MetalBloom

REE recovery via HPMS plus precious and base metals from the same feedstock. Multiple revenue streams per ton processed.

01

Modular by design

Start with Cu + Au recovery. Add HPMS. Scale to full REE integration. Each phase is independently profitable.

02

XRF decision layer

Real-time material analysis determines refine vs. sell, aqua regia deployment, and batch prioritization. Economics optimized per load.

03

Northeast feedstock corridor

Data centers, telecom infrastructure, and industrial electronics concentrated in the NY/NJ region. Short supply chains, high-grade waste.

04

Aligned with federal policy

DOE has allocated $1B+ for critical mineral recovery. Urban mining from e-waste is explicitly prioritized in 2025-2026 funding cycles.

Market Context

The numbers behind urban mining

E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream on the planet. The metals inside it are worth more per ton than most natural ores.

$11.85B
Precious metals e-waste recovery market in 2026, growing 6.5% annually
82B kg
Global e-waste generated annually by 2030. Only 20-25% formally recycled today
3-7x
Projected increase in rare earth element demand by 2040 (IEA forecast)
80%
Of US rare earth supply currently imported from China. Federal policy is shifting fast

The waste stream is the richest mine
nobody's working properly

MetalBloom is building the infrastructure to extract every recoverable element from electronic waste, using biology where nature does it best and chemistry only where necessary. Modular. Scalable. Inevitable.