The new sci-fi series Extrapolations takes a look at the world in 2038 depicting how humanity adapts and survives climate change. The show features “urban mining” as a main industry in a world over-consumed and warmed to the limits of its survival. What can we extract from our past once all the resources are used up? 

Rare earth metals, the vitamins to modern industry, power the kind of future we want to support: wind turbines, electric cars and rechargeable batteries. But these materials are limited in supply and the mining industry that pulls rare metals from the ground is fraught with regulatory hurdles and environmental woes. Most people don’t want a lithium mine in their backyard no matter how lucrative it might be for the nation.

Regenx from Canada has evolved the concept of mining: they are urban mining in the classic sense and pointing the way to cleaner and more sustainable ways of recovering minerals from industry. Traded on the TSXV: (RGX) and OTCQB: (RGXTF), Regenx has developed a smelter-free alternative to recovering the valuable rare metals palladium and platinum. 

The company’s founders came from the mining industry and saw the writing on the wall: “The mining business is changing with legislative requirements, environmental issues. Mining had to change,” says Greg Pendura, the CEO of Regenx. “We wanted to develop technologies that brought eco-friendly technologies to mining.

Jump ahead and watch our interview with Regenx CEO Greg Pedura:

He tells Green Prophet: “Mining is a tough industry: you are out in the elements but we can mine 365 days a year, indoors. It is kind of a cliche, this “urban farming” but we really can do it in an eco-friendly manner.”

Typically today when a car dies or its catalytic converter replaced, it gets smeltered or goes to landfill. While not present in electric vehicles, a catalytic converter is an essential part of our still thriving petroleum-based economy serving diesel cars and trucks. It controls emissions by breaking down toxic gasses turning them into water and carbon dioxide. Palladium and platinum is needed for building new catalytic converters and these metals will play a critical role in the cleantech industry.

Peak palladium and platinum?

“What it takes to find platinum and palladium and then to mine it, is a huge footprint,” Pendura explains. Naturally extracting it from the trash is both common sense and a good business opportunity.

Each catalytic converter is valuable at the end of its life cycle because each contains between 3 to 7 grams of platinum and palladium. But getting those materials out can be toxic and bad for the environment. With 84% of the world’s annual supply of palladium used in catalytic converters it is easy to see how a limit on this resource can yet affect the price of next year’s car purchase or rental which have already gone sky high. 

In November, 2022 a catalytic converter theft ring in the US was busted for stealing catalytic converters from cars and trucks transforming them into half a billion dollars worth of rare metals.

Consider:

•   2,110,000 oz. of palladium was used in the production of catalytic converters in North America in 2021
•     27 million auto catalytic converters become available for scrap each year but only 30% of the palladium is recovered
•     Diesel catalytic converters are expected to grow from USD 24.7 billion in 2017 to USD 39.3 billion in 2025
•     Hydrogen fuel cells, medical devices, electronic glass, hard disc drives (cloud data storage), fertilizer, physical investment (coins), safety products, jewelry, dentistry, all of these rely on palladium and platinum

Why Regenx competes with smelting 

Faced with operational inefficiencies and operating past capacity, it is likely that no new smelters will be built in North America so the industry is being pushed towards a better solution for recovering rare metals. Regenx is filling that gap –– offering an attractive investment opportunity that has positive environmental impacts. 

Some $20B USD worth of these rare metals are dumped in the landfill, never to be recycled or seen again. Regenx puts itself as the first-to-market non-smelter company to extract precious metals from diesel catalytic converters. The company can recover 90% of the precious metals from old diesel catalytic converters with no toxic byproducts.

They are the first to market this novel solution and showcase their abilities through a joint venture with a Tennessee-based company, Davis Recycling.

Recyclers like Davis Recycling are also urban miners, a term coined in the 1980s by Professor Hideo Nanjyo at Tohoku University. An urban mine is a stockpile of rare metals in electronic waste and industrial equipment. Urban mining is the process of mechanical or chemical means for recovering the metals.

A statement for impact investors and the hydrogen economy

The Regenx process emits less carbon dioxide compared to traditional mining and smelters. Its costs are stable and predictable, and the company will generate additional future revenue through carbon credits, an attractive sell to ESG funds and impact investors.

The market can’t wait: supply chain issues from Russia and South Africa are crippling the availability of rare metals, and with Regenx, American and Canadian recycling companies can produce close to home. 

As of today, Regenx is the only commercially viable solution for the recovery of precious metals from catalytic converters besides smelters. The company plans on recovering 70,000 oz of platinum and palladium per 10 tonne/day/facility with anticipated annual revenues in excess of $100M USD. Future plant expansions are planned. 

“It is a key point in the automotive industry, the chemical industry. They have shareholders they want to appease as well and are becoming more vocal about sustainability and the environment, so the whole concept of cradle to grave or the circular economy is attractive,” says Pendura. “Our ability to do [urban mining] in an eco-friendly manner is getting attention. There is no doubt about it.”

Future-proofing the jobs of students today? “Hydrogen fuel cells use a tremendous amount of platinum,” notes Pendura: “I think it will be one of the major markets in the future. Anyone in precious metal recovery, you are putting yourself in a very attractive position if you are a student or an engineer.”

::Regenx

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