American green-steelmaking startup based in Boulder, Colorado. It has developed an electrowinning process for iron production—similar to the method usually employed to process copper ores—in which iron ore is dissolved in sulphuric acid (leaving behind impurities such as silica, alumina and phosphorus) and then electrolysed at around 60°C to plate pure iron onto an electrode. The resulting pure iron is high-value and can be used to make specialist magnets.
The company has proved the process works at laboratory scale and has begun construction of a demonstration facility intended to produce 500 tonnes of iron a year. It then plans to build modules capable of 200,000 tonnes a year each. The modularity is designed to reduce initial capital expenditure and help the firm cross the startup "Valley of Death". The process can also cope with low-grade ores that conventional steelmakers eschew. Kevin Galloway is the firm's vice-president of product.
Don't look back, the lemmings are gaining on you.