Metallium subsidiary Flash Metals USA inks offtake MOU with Glencore

[Ben Graham]

Metallium Limited (ASX: MTM; OTCQX: MTMCF) announced Thursday that its subsidiary, Flash Metals USA has executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a division of Swiss commodities giant Glencore (LON: GLEN). 

The MOU, which is effective immediately, creates a framework for a potential long-term collaboration in electronic scrap supply and metal offtake in the United States. It’s subject to negotiation and execution of final definitive agreements, and runs until the end of the year, Metallium said. 

The company’s patented Flash Joule Heating (FJH) technology was developed at Rice University and enables the extraction of materials including gallium, germanium, antimony, rare earth elements, and gold from feedstocks like refinery scrap, e-waste and monazite to date.

Under the terms of the deal, Glencore will be a major supplier of feedstock to Metallium’s first commercial facility – Technology Campus in Chambers County, Texas – the site of its first commercial-scale metal recovery plant in the US. Glencore will also provide technical services for incoming feedstocks, including assaying. 

Glencore will purchase up to 75% of Metallium’s production of marketable recycled products, including metallic metals, metal chlorides and metal hydroxides. 

Specialty metals excluded 

Metallium retains the option to independently market high-value niche products such as gallium, germanium, indium and rare earth elements. 

In September, Flash Metals USA was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the US Department of Defense (now Department of War) valued at $65,200.  

The award applies to Metallium’s proprietary heating process for recovering gallium from waste streams, including LED scrap. These feedstocks also contain germanium and other valuable metals, broadening the project’s strategic impact, the company said. 

“Executing an MOU with Glencore marks a defining milestone for Metallium. Glencore ranks among the world’s most successful diversified natural resource companies and its Horne Smelter in Quebec is North America’s largest processor of electronic scrap containing copper and precious metals,” Metallium CEO Michael Walshe said in a news release.  

 Walshe added that the agreement secures critical feedstock supply, covering a significant share of Metallium’s Stage 1 requirements, “and supports our planned expansion to Stage 2, positioning Metallium alongside one of the most influential players in global recycling as we build a natural network of plants near major collection hubs and data center corridors.”  

Both parties are working toward executing a definitive binding agreement by the end of the year, according to Walshe.