Maverick Metals - a leading North American specialty chemical tech provider for critical metals recovery – announced a $19M equity funding round, led by Olive Tree Capital, as the company accelerates the commercialization of LithX, a novel lixiviant designed to improve critical metals recovery and reduce processing costs. The funding includes participation from Y Combinator, Hanwha Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Nomadic Venture Partners, Soma Capital, and TechNexus Venture Collaborative.
Maverick has secured contracts with major mining companies to integrate the technology into real-world operations, assessing the product’s ability to increase recovery, improve efficiency, and reduce environmental impact. As demand for critical metals surges, LithX, which requires no acid addition, offers a scalable solution to transform low-grade ore, tailings, and smelter slag into high-value feedstock and expand the accessible copper supply.
With global copper demand projected to double by 2035, ensuring a stable supply has become an urgent priority for industries relying on this essential metal. While copper mining operations are expanding to address supply constraints, declining ore grades, rising processing costs, and increasing environmental regulations constrain production growth. LithX provides an effective means to extract significantly more copper from ore and waste materials without requiring extreme heat or substantial amounts of harsh acid, making recovery more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible than conventional methods.
Eric Herrera, co-founder and CEO of Maverick Metals, commented: “As the U.S. accelerates its push for domestic critical metals production, LithX™ provides a scalable, commercially viable path to securing essential materials. By increasing recovery rates and making it economically viable to extract metals from previously uneconomical deposits, low-grade ores, and waste streams, LithX delivers a practical solution for operators seeking to maximize production and lower OPEX. Securing this significant equity funding validates the groundbreaking potential of our technology to support global supply chain resilience.”
Furthermore, the technology liberates additional valuable byproducts necessary to strengthen North American supply chains for defense, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing materials, such as ultra-pure silica and metallurgical-grade silicon for semiconductor production.
Jesse Evans, co-founder and chief operating officer of Maverick Metals. “LithX is demonstrating its ability to realize significant value across multiple critical metals – without the high capital costs and environmental impact of conventional methods. As we advance field trials with major mining companies, we continue to focus on optimizing performance at scale and ensuring seamless integration into existing operations. The results so far are promising, and we’re excited to collaborate with industry leaders to expand LithX across the critical metals processing sector.”
Nichola Eliovits, managing partner of Olive Tree Capital, said: “We are pleased to announce our investment in and support of Maverick Metals. We believe LithX has the potential to significantly increase the range of viable resources available to help alleviate global supply constraints. With increasing momentum behind securing domestic critical metals production and interest from mining operators to increase low-cost production, Maverick Metals is well-positioned for widespread industry adoption of LithX 51 as a transformative and scalable solution.”
Maverick Metals is seeking companies, industrial partners, and investors to accelerate LithX deployment. More information is posted on www.MaverickMetals.com and www.OliveTreeCapital.com.
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