Metallium on track to hit key milestones as Texas plant commissioning looms

• Metallium advances key equipment orders ahead of December commissioning at Texas facility
• Electrical upgrades, site clearing, and drainage improvements are all taking place
• A key commissioning milestone was reached with the order of 60t of printed circuit board scrap “e-waste”

Special report: Everything is bigger in Texas, and true to form ASX lister Metallium is making significant progress on its plant site in the Lone Star State’s Chambers County ahead of December commissioning.

Metallium (ASX:MTM) shares popped 7% on Monday morning as it issued an update on the development of its facility, the first commercial site to use its groundbreaking Flash Joule Heating processing technology.

Orders have been placed for key e-waste pre-processing systems such as size reduction, pre-heating and materials handling, and site infrastructure including mobile offices, with long lead items already ordered.

And 60t of metal rich printed circuit board e-waste has already been ordered, de-risking the site’s initial ramp up.

MTM’s tech has been shown to recover up to 100% of gold from e-waste grading 551g/t Au, around 100x that of mined ore, with 97% silver recovery at 2804g/t Ag and 98% antimony recovery from feedstock grading 3.13% Sb.

An alternative to environmentally challenging and energy intensive processes like hydro and pyro met, Metallium’s FJH tech developed by Houston’s Rice University heats feedstock to over 3000 degrees Kelvin in seconds using pulsed direct current and chlorine gas.

The company’s share price has lifted 1800% since the pivot to mineral processing tech last year, giving it a valuation of ~$450m in a perfect storm as the Trump Administration seeks to bring minerals and energy production back to US shores.

MTM managing director and CEO Michael Walshe said the company is progressing on all fronts to deliver its first US facility as planned.

“With critical equipment ordered, site works advancing, and commissioning feedstock secured, the project is materially de-risked,” he said.

Permitting milestones on track

Permitting is continuing at the Chambers County site to advance air and water quality assessments, with MTM already engaging VaporPoint to implement best practice monitoring and compliance systems.

Engineering firm Hunt, Gulliot & Associates is on board to carry out plant integration, implementation engineering and structural assessments to move the overall design forward.

The company is working with the local power utility, Entergy Texas, to finalise supply arrangements and capacity for long-term operations, and is in discussions with an adjacent landfill operator to establish solids residue discharge pathways in compliance with all environmental regulations.

As part of its scale-up efforts, MTM is building out its team by recruiting key personnel such as a US CFO, plant manager, engineering leads and business development staff to support operations.

“…we are executing the detailed integration work with resources from HGA, strengthening our environmental systems with specialised advice from VaporPoint, and finalising utility and waste management arrangements,” Walshe said.

“Our recruitment drive ensures we have the technical and operational capability to move quickly from commissioning to full production.”

MTM is also growing its commercial focus across a range of critical metal feedstocks, including antimony, rare earth element (REE) magnets, heavy REE-enriched e-scrap, and selected mining concentrates.

Watch: MTM locks in national security heavyweight

Commissioning milestone

The order of 60t of PCB e-waste is a major milestone for the plant’s imminent December commissioning.

This batch has been selected to closely match the anticipated long-term feedstock profile for the facility, allowing process tuning and operational readiness testing under realistic operating conditions.

And the company is already looking at using the Texas site as a beachhead to Stateside expansion, looking for pre-permitted sites near major e-waste collection centres.

The company’s ambition is to leverage the FJH modular system design to rapidly expand its model across the US.

Metallium says it will update shareholders as construction, installation, and commissioning milestones are achieved.

This article was developed in collaboration with Metallium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.