MTM Critical Metals reports high-grade antimony recovery from US e-waste

MTM Critical Metals (ASX: MTM; OTCQB: MTMCF) announced Tuesday it has achieved 98% recovery of antimony from US electronic waste, extracting 3.13% metal content from printed circuit board feedstock.

The Australian company, whose Houston, Texas-based subsidiary Flash Metals USA, is commercializing its proprietary Flash Joule Heating (FJH) technology to recover critical metals and gold from e-waste.

Last month, MTM secured a pre-permitted site in the US Golf Coast petrochemical corridor in Chambers County, Texas, as its first facility.

The tested feedstock — the same urban waste material from which MTM previously reported ultra-high-grade gold, silver and copper recoveries — highlights the untapped value of complex e-waste streams, MTM said.

The tested material — sourced from US-origin printed circuit boards — had undergone upstream thermal processing to remove plastics and volatiles, yielding a concentrated, metal-rich carbonaceous residue.

This “urban ore” contained 3.13% antimony, a grade more than three times higher than some of the world’s largest primary deposits, including China’s Xikuangshan, and significantly above the global mined ore range of 0.1–1.0%, MTM said.

These results, the company said, directly support US efforts to re-establish domestic refining capacity.

MTM said it has already secured over 1,100 tonnes per year of e-waste feedstock under long-term agreements with US suppliers, which provide a strong foundation for commercial deployment.

“This result demonstrates the strong technical and commercial potential of our FJH process for recovering strategic metals from e-waste,” MTM CEO Michael Walshe said in a news release.

“Achieving 98% recovery of antimony at over 3% grade, from domestic urban feedstock, is particularly significant given the US currently has no meaningful domestic antimony production,” Walshe said.

“With antimony designated as a critical metal by both the DoD and DoE, these outcomes reinforce MTM’s ability to contribute to onshore supply solutions for high-priority metals.”

Walshe also said the company is engaging with US government agencies, including the DoD and DoE, regarding potential funding to support domestic critical metal recovery.