We are an Estonian biotechnology company developing cost-efficient biological technologies for recovering valuable and critical metals from high- and low-grade ores, industrial residues, magnets, and electronic waste.
Our focus is on unlocking value from materials that are currently uneconomic or technically challenging to process using conventional methods. By harnessing microbially produced lixiviants and tailored biohydrometallurgical processes, we aim to reduce processing costs, improve resource efficiency, and enable the recovery of metals from complex materials.
Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all technology, we adapt and optimize our processes for each customer’s specific raw material, target metals, operating conditions, and commercial objectives. Our work spans the full development pathway—from laboratory testing and process optimization to scale-up and pilot implementation—with particular expertise in bioleaching, selective metal recovery, and the valorization of secondary resources.
Our goal is simple: to turn previously uneconomic materials into valuable resources through cost-efficient, scalable biotechnology.
History
Our company, formerly known as BiotaP, was created in July 2007 with a main focus on developing environmental monitoring tools based on metagenomics. For 10 years, our ISO 17025-accredited laboratory performed DNA analysis of microorganisms extracted from environmental and medical samples, mainly for scientific institutions at home and abroad.
In 2010, the company started to investigate different possibilities of employing microorganism-based solutions for new innovative bioleaching technologies.
Initial tests with local black shale were promising, and development of a 2-step technology combining anaerobic and
aerobic bioleaching in stirred tanks continued, leading to a patent application in 2016. With the push of the Green Deal grant no. 101010499 from the European Innovation Council in 2020, we further equipped our BioMining Center and set up a fleet of biotreatment units comprising 1L, 20L, 50L, 100 L, and 1 m3 reactors, as well as different-volume columns.
Under strict NDA’s have been developing several novel bioleaching approaches for different customers around the world.
Our ground-breaking solutions are suitable for rapid and cost-efficient valorization in an environmentally safe way of:
- argillite
- WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment; often called as e-waste)
- magnets
- Bauxite Residue
- black shales & oil shales
- phosphate rocks
- phosphogypsum
- laterites
- cracked monazite
- coal ash
- other metals/organics containing ores and waste.