AlkaLi Labs

Last week I attended an ARPA-E workshop on Ammonia and Critical Minerals Recovery. Still, there is an impending supply deficit for critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, REEs, etc). Our waste has enough resource to meet demand, but it is very low grade. And these streams often contain many different critical minerals. These dilute and contaminated resources are our focus at AlkaLi, and I am still totally convinced that bioaccumulative mining is going to be a critical part of our supply chain in the next few years. If you don't know ARPA-E: they fund R&D for world-changing energy projects, akin to DARPA and ARPA-H. Their programs operate on four year cycles. The Critical Mineral Recovery program is still in development, and ARPA-E hosted a workshop to understand the "technical white space" of ammonia and critical mineral recovery from waste streams. In other words, they're searching for exciting new science, and figuring out how it should be evaluated. The workshop was heartening, it is exactly how you want government to work: leading scientists, industrialists, and government researchers gathered together to discuss technology that could better public health, supply chain resilience, and domestic industry. It was a massive honor to attend!

25 biomining startups to add to your radar ?? ?? Biomining is positioned to grow because it uses relatively simple biotechnology to address a macro problem that is only getting worse: the way we find new metal is unsustainable economically and environmentally - largely driven by demand from the green transition. ?? The Why: From a commodity economics perspective, anything that helps eke out every last milligram of copper, nickel, or lithium is valuable since prices are so high. From a sustainability perspective, the lower environmental impact of most forms of biomining (versus building a new mine) is as attractive as the cost savings. ?? The Stats: - The IEA forecasts that by 2040 we will need between 6x and 19x more nickel than in 2020, as well as 6x-21x more cobalt and 13x-42x more lithium. ?? The Who; There are 20+ companies globally working on Biomining, incl: - French based Genomines who have raise $6.9M to date to draw nickel out of the soil by planting “hyperaccumulator” species that are good at absorbing metal in their stems and leaves. The plants are then bioleached and nickel is reconstituted. - Singapore based Blue Planet Environmental Solutions who have raise $131M to date uses bioleaching to recover gold, palladium, and other metals from e-waste in the vast Perungudi Dump Yard. ?? Check out the startups working in the space: FungAI?l Aether?l ekolive Endolith?l REEgen?l Allonnia?l Novalith?l 1849 bio?l ReeTerra?l Giraffe Bio?l Genomines?l AlkaLi Labs?l BioMetallica?l BioMetallum?l Magmatic Bio?l Mint Innovation?l Phoenix Tailings?l Last Loop Metals?l BRAIN Biotech AG?l Maverick BioMetals?l Transition Biomining?l Infinite Elements, Inc?l VIRIDIAN RESOURCES, L.L.C.?l Blue Planet Environmental Solutions?l BiotaTec - Next Gen BioMining Centre

25 biomining startups to add to your radar ?? ?? Biomining is positioned to grow because it uses relatively simple biotechnology to address a macro problem that is only getting worse: the way we find new metal is unsustainable economically and environmentally - largely driven by demand from the green transition. ?? The Why: From a commodity economics perspective, anything that helps eke out every last milligram of copper, nickel, or lithium is valuable since prices are so high. From a sustainability perspective, the lower environmental impact of most forms of biomining (versus building a new mine) is as attractive as the cost savings. ?? The Stats: - The IEA forecasts that by 2040 we will need between 6x and 19x more nickel than in 2020, as well as 6x-21x more cobalt and 13x-42x more lithium. ?? The Who; There are 20+ companies globally working on Biomining, incl: - French based Genomines who have raise $6.9M to date to draw nickel out of the soil by planting “hyperaccumulator” species that are good at absorbing metal in their stems and leaves. The plants are then bioleached and nickel is reconstituted. - Singapore based Blue Planet Environmental Solutions who have raise $131M to date uses bioleaching to recover gold, palladium, and other metals from e-waste in the vast Perungudi Dump Yard. ?? Check out the startups working in the space: FungAI?l Aether?l ekolive Endolith?l REEgen?l Allonnia?l Novalith?l 1849 bio?l ReeTerra?l Giraffe Bio?l Genomines?l AlkaLi Labs?l BioMetallica?l BioMetallum?l Magmatic Bio?l Mint Innovation?l Phoenix Tailings?l Last Loop Metals?l BRAIN Biotech AG?l Maverick BioMetals?l Transition Biomining?l Infinite Elements, Inc?l VIRIDIAN RESOURCES, L.L.C.?l Blue Planet Environmental Solutions?l BiotaTec - Next Gen BioMining Centre

???? Huge thank you to Jacob Roberts for speaking with our USAID cohort last week. It was incredibly interesting to learn about the possibilities of mining with Lithium using *biology*! AlkaLi Labs was founded by Jacob and Luis Valencia to engineer a method of extracting lithium from oil field brines using biology. They are on a mission to solve the lithium supply in an economic and environmentally friendly way. Currently, lithium mining processes are expensive and disruptive. AlkaLi Labs tackles those challenges using microbiology! ???????? This session was extremely interesting to the participants. One USAID official noted that "Jacob is a very charismatic speaker. He is an excellent communicator, and made a complex subject easy to digest." Mining lithium, especially by using biology, is not an easy concept to understand. Jacob did a wonderful job teaching the participants not only the science behind the startup, but also the innovation that it takes from the looking glass of an entrepreneur. Thank you for your time, Jacob!