An Adelaide startup creating magnetic know-how to course of steel-grade iron focus and recovercritical minerals with out utilizing water is seeking to increase extra funding following a $10 million Seed spherical in December final yr.
DryFlow Magnetics, based in 2024, has reopened its Seed increase, which was backed by Orion Industrial Ventures, Virescent Ventures and Taronga Ventures, on the identical phrases to fund the fabrication of its processing vegetation for the mining business. CSIRO and the South Australian authorities’s Seed-Begin program have additionally delivered grant funding.
The startup says it has business curiosity from the USA, lately signing its first buyer there, and several other analysis applications underway with a number of the world’s main miners. It’s about to put in its first business pilot plant in South Australian mine web site in a partnership with Peak Iron Mines at its Buzzard Mine and Hawks Nest iron ore undertaking.
DryFlow’s waterless course of permits miners to extract excessive purity iron focus and significant minerals from water-stranded property.
Standard moist processing strategies are each water and power intensive, hampering processing Australia’s arid and distant iron ore areas. The chance to improve exported iron ores to increased grade for inexperienced iron is anticipated to price $386 billion a yr by 2060 – 3x 3 times the worth of the business right this moment.
Greener metal
DryFlow CEO Brett Boynton stated the inexperienced metal business wants excessive purity iron ore focus, which Australia at present doesn’t produce.
“Our opponents in Brazil, Canada and Europe are all utilizing moist processing applied sciences to supply excessive purity iron ore concentrates. That isn’t an possibility in Australia, however DryFlow’s know-how adjustments the longer term for the business,” he stated.
“We will unlock billions of tonnes of stranded mineral assets and produce the exacting excessive grade iron ore focus steelmakers are switching to. By eradicating the necessity for course of water we additionally do it extra effectively, cheaply and sustainably.”
Orion managing accomplice Mark Frayman stated DryFlow’s know-how has the potential to resolve a significant international processing bottleneck, and monetise at present stranded property and waste streams at a fraction of the capital and working price of current processes.
Iron and metal manufacturing accounts for as much as 9% of world emissions, which why Blair Pritchard from Virescent, Australia’s largest devoted local weather tech enterprise fund, backed DryFlow.
“Metal is among the world’s largest industrial emissions sectors, and decarbonising it represents one of many greatest business alternatives of the following decade,” he stated.
“A crucial piece of that puzzle is effectively and sustainably securing high-grade iron ore focus. DryFlow solves that drawback whereas additionally guaranteeing Australian iron ore exported now can meet the excessive requirements of our main export companions, serving to to safe the way forward for our largest export business.”
