pH7 lands up to $5M from Canada to test cleaner copper process
What's the deal? pH7 Technologies has secured up to $5 million from Natural Resources CanadaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to evaluate a first-of-its-kind copper production technology.
The grant flows through the Energy Innovation Program's Mining Decarbonization Demonstration Call for Proposals.
The project will test pH7's closed-loop process using ore samples from Trekor Metals' Gibraltar Mine in British Columbia.
The technology converts low-grade sulfide ore directly into 99.9% pure copper cathodes on-site, generating green hydrogen as a by-product.
Why now? Copper demand is climbing fast, driven by electrification, renewable energy, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing.
The industry must boost supply while cutting environmental impact — a squeeze that favours new extraction methods.
Canada is also pushing to strengthen domestic critical mineral supply chains and lead in sustainable mining.
What could go wrong? The funding covers evaluation only; future construction and demonstration phases depend on technical and commercial results.
The project must still clear engineering and technology development stages before any commercial deployment.
Unproven at scale, the process carries the usual risk that lab promise fails to translate to mine sites.
The signal: Governments are increasingly backing homegrown clean-tech to secure the minerals underpinning the energy transition, and this grant from Natural Resources Canada — a government and non-profit funder — reflects that push to strengthen domestic critical mineral supply chains. For pH7, a breakout-stage cleantech pioneer in the emerging field of solvometallurgy, the funding marks a step from its commercial platinum-group metals facility in Vancouver into copper, where success could unlock value from low-grade ores and tailings once deemed uneconomic.
Read more: pulse2.com
Image credit: pH7 Technologies
