Vancouver’s RZOLV Technologies confirmed this week that it has raised nearly $2 million through an over-subscribed non-brokered private placement financing.
The proceeds will be used for a range of purposes, including research and development, pilot-scale and commercial-readiness activities, intellectual property protection, strategic partnership initiatives, investor relations, and more.
The Canadian cleantech startup, founded in 2022, has developed a non-toxic, water-based reagent for gold and critical mineral extraction, serving as a cyanide-free alternative in mining to promote more environmentally sustainable recovery processes.
RZOLV posits that the financing strengthens the company’s balance sheet and supports the continued advancement of its proprietary hydrometallurgical technology platform.
The B.C. innovator also reported “positive preliminary laboratory results” from initial scoping tests on selected low-grade copper-gold composite samples using its proprietary platform, including recoveries of up to 95% for gold and 80% for copper.
The results “are encouraging,” according to chief executive officer Duane Nelson, “because they were achieved during the first laboratory evaluation of the selected samples and before systematic process optimization.”
“The tests demonstrated strong gold recovery and sequential extraction of copper and gold into separate process streams,” the CEO continued, adding: “The results support further evaluation of a feed-specific processing approach, including direct RZOLV leaching for selected lower-copper material and copper pre-treatment followed by RZOLV gold leaching for selected higher-copper material.”
Moving forward, “Further work will focus on repeatability, process optimization, scale-up evaluation, and recovery of both metals into saleable products or intermediates to assess the technical and economic potential of the integrated process,” according to Nelson.
Earlier this year, RZOLV was selected for Foresight Canada’s Cleantech Export Venture Program.
The program features four weeks of fast-track curriculum designed to equip cleantech ventures with the knowledge and tools needed to identify and enter new markets, mitigating supply chain risks while accelerating growth.