IP Portfolio Developer · R&D & Engineering

Recovering value locked inside metallurgical tailings.

ATHALA develops and commercialises a portfolio of metallurgical and hydrometallurgical patent families — engineered to turn mine tailings, slags and process residues into recovered metals, lower closure liabilities, and durable licensing revenue.

Integrated
Independent technologies in a single process
6+
Patent families in focus
Closed-loop
Regenerative process chemistry
Asset, not a problem
How ATHALA reframes legacy tailings
The problem

The industry's largest waste stream is also its largest stranded resource.

Decades of mining and metallurgy have left billions of tonnes of tailings and residues behind dams and in legacy stockpiles — carrying environmental liability, regulatory exposure, and unrecovered metal value at the same time.

Mounting closure liabilities

Tailings storage facilities now carry multi-billion-dollar closure reserves and tightening governance under the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM).

Critical minerals reporting to waste

Copper, rare earths, cobalt, uranium, zinc and silver — strategic metals that conventional flowsheets leave behind in the residue rather than recover.

Costly, reagent-intensive processing

Reprocessing residues at scale is gated by reagent cost, which conventional routes consume rather than recover.

In scope · Europe
145

European tailings facilities screened in ATHALA's proprietary target database.


≈1.8 Bt

Stored across Europe's largest copper tailings facilities — carrying copper, silver, molybdenum and rhenium.


Cu · Zn · Ag · Re · Co

Recurring metal signature across the European pipeline — base metals plus critical rhenium and cobalt, today reporting to waste.

The technology

Independent technologies, united in a single process.

ATHALA brings together separately-proven, independent technologies into one integrated process — covering both the recovery of value from residues and the wear-resistant equipment that handles them.

Process chemistry · Hydrometallurgy

Closed-Loop Recovery

A regenerative leaching architecture that recovers and recycles its process reagents in a closed loop — collapsing the reagent cost that gates residue reprocessing and unlocking metal recovery from tailings, red mud and complex ores. One feed yields two products, not one.

  • Two outputs from one feed: recovered metal, plus an inert, reusable residue — lower volume, lower hazard class, freed storage capacity
  • Regenerates its reagents instead of consuming them
  • Targets copper tailings, bauxite residue (red mud), and polymetallic streams
  • Modular path: bench → mini-pilot → pilot → commercial module
Advanced materials · Metallurgy

Wear-Resistant Alloy

A proprietary metallurgical route yields a wear-resistant alloy reaching up to 70 HRC — top-class surface performance at a fraction of the cost of conventional wear solutions.

  • Exceptional surface hardness — up to 70 HRC
  • Mill liners, hardfacing and weld-overlay applications
  • Extends life of the very equipment that processes tailings & ore
  • Licensing targets across global wear-parts manufacturers
How the recovery loop works
01 · Feed
Tailings & Residues
Legacy dams, slags, red mud, stockpiles
02 · Leach
Closed-Loop Leaching
Selective dissolution of target metals
03 · Regenerate
Reagent Regeneration
Closed-loop reagent recovery
04 · Two outputs
Metal + Safe Residue
Cu · REE · critical metals — plus an inert, reusable residue
Decarbonisation advantage

Recovered metal units, at a fraction of the carbon.

Because the process recovers metal already present in residues — rather than smelting virgin ore — the embodied carbon of each recovered tonne is an order of magnitude below conventional primary production. The same economics that recover value also lower the carbon intensity of the supply chain.

0.15–0.25 t
CO₂ per tonne · ATHALA reprocessing route
1.8–2.3 t
CO₂ per tonne · conventional blast-furnace steel
Carbon footprint comparison: ATHALA reprocessing route 0.15–0.25 t CO₂ per tonne versus conventional blast-furnace steel 1.8–2.3 t CO₂ per tonne — approximately ten times lower.
The IP portfolio

Built to be owned, defended, and licensed.

ATHALA exists to convert fragmented, founder-held inventions into a single investment-grade, transactable asset — clean title, international protection, and a clear commercialisation path.

Consolidated title

Founder, institutional and corporate ownership unified into a single holding structure with clean chain-of-title and assignment deeds.

International extension

A staged filing programme (PCT and regional phases) extends protection beyond the home jurisdiction ahead of competing priority.

Defensive package

Trademarks, trade-secret governance and freedom-to-operate analysis reinforce the portfolio's defensibility.

Validation pipeline

Sequenced proof-of-concept and pilot programmes with industrial partners turn lab results into bankable, referenceable performance.

Licensing engine

Independent technologies addressing distinct buyer pools — equipment makers and metal producers — diversify the revenue base.

Jurisdiction-ready holdco

An international holding vehicle structured for cross-border licensing, royalty flow and institutional investment.

Markets & clients

Where the technology earns.

ATHALA engages the operators who carry the liability and the manufacturers who supply the wear parts — across copper, alumina, and critical-metals value chains.

Copper producers

Reprocessing of copper tailings and concentrator residues to recover contained metal while reducing the active tailings footprint.

Integrated miners · concentrator operators · smelter complexes

Alumina & red mud

Bauxite-residue (red mud) valorisation — metal recovery and volume reduction of one of industry's most persistent residues.

Alumina refineries · legacy red-mud impoundments

Critical & rare-earth metals

Selective recovery of rare earths and critical metals from polymetallic tailings and complex residues that defeat conventional routes.

Diversified majors · critical-mineral programmes

Wear-parts manufacturers

Licensing of the wear-resistant alloy for mill liners, hardfacing and weld overlay — a wear-resistance class above incumbent castings.

Grinding-media & liner makers · hardfacing licensors
For investors

An asset built to be transacted.

ATHALA is structured as an IP-development play: limited capital intensity, multiple independent licensing paths, and a clear two-to-five-year route to an enterprise value supported by royalty economics — not a single-site capex bet.

Commercial engagement is staged and gated — each step a verifiable result before the next commitment, keeping exposure proportionate to confidence.

Capital-light
IP-development model, not single-site capex
Royalty-driven
Returns built on licensing economics
2–5 yr
Defined route to a transactable asset
up to 7
Decorrelated licensing revenue cores

A facility that ends up smaller, safer and lower in hazard class — while yielding metal — is, to its operator, an asset rather than a cost.

Detailed financial projections, valuation and capital plan available in the data room under NDA.

Engage with ATHALA

Let's talk recovery, licensing, or investment.

Whether you operate a tailings facility, supply wear-resistant equipment, or invest in industrial IP — we'll share the technical brief and commercialisation roadmap under NDA.