BHP Billiton and Freeport Investment Jetti Resources Copper extraction Technology

Jetti Resources, a Colorado-based company that develops copper extraction technology of the same name, announced on Friday that it had received $50 million in funding to support the rapid deployment of the technology in large-scale copper mining operations.

This round of financing is led by existing investors Mitsubishi, including new investors Freeport-McMoRan, BHP Ventures, Orion Resource Partners, and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Funds and accounts that provide advice. Jetti said Mitsubishi had further deepened its involvement as an investor as part of a shared vision to change the copper industry.

In the face of low-grade aging mines, the industry is studying how much copper they can produce from existing operations-Chile's Codelco, for example, is planning a massive upgrade of its aging mines.

Jetti Resources, a start-up founded in 2014, says its technology can extract copper from low-grade primary sulfides, such as chalcopyrite, the world's richest copper ore.

Mike Outwin, its co-founder and chief executive, says people have been trying for decades to figure out how to use existing technology and infrastructure to extract copper from the material.

Outwin said that Jetti's financing round was supported by the two largest copper mining companies in the world, and that the company looked forward to working with all investors to accelerate the adoption of Jetti's technology and to provide much-needed "green copper" to meet the world's demand for the future of low-carbon electrification.

Jetti Resources's board attracted copper veteran Ken Pickering, former BHP Copper president, former BHP CEO Chip Goodyear, former Xstrata chief financial officer Trevor Reid, former Rio Tinto copper chief executive Jonathan Leslie and former Anglo-American copper chief executive John Mackenzie.

Outwin said the latest investment showed that miners recognized the potential of Jetti's technology to release large amounts of untapped copper resources in their portfolios.

Last year, Capstone Mining tested Jetti technology at the Pinto Valley mine in Arizona. Capstone announced in July last year that cathode production per irrigated area doubled in the first year of Capstone's partnership with Jetti.

The technology we have developed solves the problem of [of] being able to leach chalcopyrite to extract copper, and the industry currently has a specified recovery of 0 per cent. 70 per cent of the world's remaining copper resources are trapped in low-grade chalcopyrite, "Outwin said in an interview last year.

Outwin says Jetti technology is a "game changer" because miners typically recover 0 per cent of low-grade chalcopyrite, which accounts for a large part of their mines.

"We are developing a low-cost catalyst that can increase the leaching rate-which is the key to unlocking the layer and allowing copper to flow out," Outwin said. We can use existing technology and existing leaching infrastructure, "with this technology, you can effectively create a new mine simply by deploying it on the site and using the existing infrastructure and mining existing minerals on the site."

Jetti has 23 projects at different stages, including five active pilot projects and three opportunities to transition to a commercial state.