Montreal’s Exterra Carbon Solutions this week secured a $20 million round of capital.
The $20M Series A was co-led by Clean Energy Ventures and BDC Capital, with the participation of the Government of Quebec, Investissement Quebec, MOL Switch, and Kinetics, according to a statement from the Canadian cleantech.
Exterra specializes in transforming legacy mining waste into sustainable, low-carbon critical minerals and CO₂ sequestration solutions.
The company’s commercialization strategy centres on its upcoming Hub I project, scheduled to begin construction in Quebec in 2027. Hub I will become the world’s largest asbestos mitigation plant, with an annual capacity to process over 300,000 tonnes of asbestos mine tailings annually.
“Exterra pioneers a revolutionary approach to transforming mining waste into valuable low-carbon products and solutions,” says chief executive officer Olivier Dufresne.
This new financing will enable Exterra to accelerate the integration of the mining industry into the circular economy, according to a statement from the firm.
“With this funding, we’ll accelerate commercializing our dual-pronged platform that valourizes over 90% of minerals from asbestos residues while creating one of the shortest nickel supply chains for EV electrification in North America,” said Dufresne.
After the inauguration of Hub I, Exterra aims to integrate key pieces of its technologies into larger-scale mining and mineral processing applications internationally, such as acid recycling and the mineralization of emissions.
“This Series A marks a pivotal moment as we move toward commercial operations and demonstrates how mining can enable an equitable, sustainable net-zero future,” Dufresne stated.
Daniel Goldman, cofounder of Clean Energy Ventures, believes “Exterra represents the future of responsible circular resource utilization.”
As for the location of the Hub, provincial minister Christopher Skeete says he is “working hard for Quebec to become a carbon-neutral state by 2050.”
“To achieve this, we must adopt new technologies that will help decarbonize our industrie,” he remarked. “It is thanks to the innovative capacity of our companies and circular economy projects, like those developed by Exterra, that we will succeed.”
Founded in 2021, Exterra was recognized in the 2024 Carbon Capture Canada Awards.