Revolutionary Copper Extraction: How Still Bright's Innovation is Cutting Costs and Saving the Planet

The Copper Crisis and Still Bright's Solution

With the global economy shifting away from fossil fuels, the demand for copper is skyrocketing. Humanity will need twice as much copper in the coming years than has been mined throughout all of history. This presents a significant challenge, as easily mineable copper is already depleted, and opening new mines is a slow and environmentally damaging process.

Image Credits: Monty Rakusen / Getty Images

Still Bright, a New Jersey-based startup founded in 2022, has developed a novel and cleaner way to extract copper, potentially slashing costs and meeting this soaring demand. Their technology can recover nearly all the copper from typical ores, including tailings—discard piles that still contain smaller amounts of the metal.

How It Works

Still Bright's process involves soaking copper-containing ores in a vanadium-based solution, which draws the metal out of the ore. Unlike traditional methods that burn away unwanted parts of the ore—releasing harmful pollution—Still Bright's system uses electricity to regenerate the vanadium solution, making it environmentally friendly.

This innovation was inspired by vanadium flow batteries, a type of long-duration energy storage. The company's modular system is smaller and faster than traditional refiners, processing copper in minutes to an hour.

Funding and Future Prospects

To scale up production, Still Bright has raised $18.7 million in seed funding led by Material Impact and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Other participants include Azolla Ventures, Fortescue, Impact Science Ventures, and SOSV.

With this funding, Still Bright aims to boost production from single digits to hundreds of tons per year, offering a sustainable solution to the looming copper shortage.