Key points
- Viridian Biometals, a startup spun out of Impossible Metals, uses bacteria that “breathe” metal oxides in rock to extract critical minerals without acids, heat, freshwater or toxic waste, CEO Eric Macris said in the March 2026 webinar.
- The company reports 85% metal recovery in two days at lab scale (20 liters), with recent tests showing extraction time down to one day, and estimates its process is three times more profitable than a Chinese high-pressure acid leaching plant, breaking even in 3 years versus 5.
- Viridian plans a 10,000-liter pilot plant within two years and a container-sized 60,000-liter demonstration plant about a year after that; it is working with five customers under NDA, including three with signed memoranda of understanding.
- The company has filed patents in the US and other mining jurisdictions, now under active review, and says it will act as a processor for nodules from seabed miners rather than conduct harvesting itself.
