MPower Partners Fund, Japan’s first ESG-focused global venture capital fund, has invested in Phoenix Tailings (headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA; Co-founder and CEO: Nick Myers), a startup developing a new way to process and harvest rare earth elements (REE), and other critical minerals,  from mining waste.

Global REE demand has grown consistently every year, with annual demand doubling to 125,000 metric tons (t) in the 15 years to 2021. This is projected to reach 315,000t in 2030, as permanent magnet use in EV and wind power sectors reach an all-time high. As geopolitical tensions persist between Western economies and China, which has historically dominated the REE value chain, governments and companies are increasingly searching for cleaner and alternative methods to source REE. 

We are excited to welcome Phoenix Tailings to the MPower portfolio, to help them become the environmentally responsible and economically viable alternative to rare earth sourcing. Phoenix Tailings’s strength is in its intellectual property of extracting REE from tailings, a waste product left over from mining. The mining industry produces over 200 billion tons of tailings every year, which contributes to more than 7% of global carbon emissions. While such are conventionally left behind with no further use case, Phoenix Tailings’ team has developed a method to create metals from tailings, with byproducts being only sand, water, and mineral salts. Phoenix Tailings has also developed novel ways to separate oxides, and reduce them to final rare earth metals without the use of hazardous chemicals, as well as -45% less energy. This is crucial to sustainable permanent magnet production, key components in electric vehicle motors and wind turbines.

Phoenix Tailings currently produces Neodymium, Dysprosium, and Terbium and is launching a new processing facility this October. MPower Partners is excited to support Phoenix Tailings in their quest to become the world’s first clean metal processing company. Other investors in this funding round include Presidio Ventures, EIC Rose Rock, and Envisioning Partners.

Comment(s) from Phoenix Tailings’ founding team 

"Mining and metals production is one of the cornerstones of modern society. It is vital to everything we do, and increasingly the lynchpin that underlines the technologies needed to transition to a decarbonized and electrified economy. Yet these industries are still extremely wasteful, inefficient and harmful. Through our innovative technologies, we are demonstrating to the world that it is possible to create critical materials without compromising our environmental or public health standards. With this new round of capital to look to accelerate the future of mining and metals production through zero waste, zero carbon emission production."

Phoenix Tailings Summary

• Phoenix Tailings is transforming mining and critical materials processing to meet the exponentially growing global demand. Through a proprietary process, they extract usable metals, including rare earth metals, from mining waste known as tailings.

• Corporate headquarters: 8 Henshaw Street, Suite B, Woburn, MA 01801, USA 

• Co-founder and CEO: Nick Meyers 

• Business: Refining of rare earth metals and other critical materials from mining waste 

• Corporate URL: https://phoenixtailings.com/

MPower Partners Fund Summary

MPower Partners Fund is Japan’s first ESG-integrated global venture capital fund that aims to support entrepreneurs providing solutions to societal challenges through the power of technology, and to promote sustainable growth by incorporating ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) into their core business strategies. The founding team draws on their extensive experience in the financial industry and ESG matters to support the global expansion of startups and strives to infuse ESG elements into the ecosystem. 

Fund website: https://www.mpower-partners.com

For inquiries regarding this matter, please contact info@mpower-partners.com

This press release has been prepared for the purpose of providing information to qualified institutional investors and potential portfolio companies of the Fund, and is not a disclosure document pursuant to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, and does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation to purchase the Fund.