WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 17, 2025--
SiTration, a materials recovery company serving the mining and metals industries, on Thursday, April 10 th, celebrated the opening of its new R&D and pilot facility attended by state, and local officials; investors; and partners. The company plans to develop and scale its pilot systems for critical minerals recovery in the 11,000-square-foot facility in Watertown, MA. The company’s technology enables low cost, sustainable recovery of metals including copper, cobalt, and nickel which are key to the clean energy transition. SiTration’s technical approach enables profitable extraction even from waste streams, unlocking new resources and bolstering domestic sources of critical minerals. This new facility will support production of pilot systems, expansion of R&D efforts, and recent headcount growth.
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In recognition of SiTration’s commencement of operations, the event featured remarks from notable leaders including State Representative Steve Owens and Undersecretary of Economic Foundations Ashley Stolba. Co-founder and CEO Dr. Brendan Smith cut a ceremonial ribbon to mark the occasion. Attendees were later guided on a tour of the new facility.
"This new space marks an inflection point for SiTration,” said Dr. Smith “enabling us to expand our world-class team and build pilot systems larger and faster than previously possible. These systems will be deployed with mining partners around the world to demonstrate our uniquely profitable and sustainable critical minerals extraction capabilities, advancing us towards the commercial scale."
Founded as a spinoff from research conducted at MIT, SiTration is working to address the demand for critical materials needed to manufacture technologies that are key to electrification and AI adoption, including electric motors, batteries, and data centers. SiTration’s patented silicon filtration and electro-extraction technologies provide chemical-free, energy-efficient extraction and recycling. The company’s innovative solution lowers both the cost and the resource intensity of extracting and recycling materials, while also addressing localized pollution from mining operations. The company’s work has attracted the attention of industry, most notably through a partnership with Rio Tinto to valorize and remediate mining waste streams.
"We invested in SiTration because the energy transition is a materials transition -- the copper, lithium, rare earths, and other elements that SiTration can recover will increasingly power every sector of the global economy," said Matthew Nordan, General Partner at Azolla Ventures. "The company is a case study in how Massachusetts' innovation ecosystem brings powerful ideas to life. Private investors like us, state agencies like the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, accelerator programs like Activate, and innumerable individual advisors and supporters all played a role in bringing a core innovation from the lab into the field."
To date, SiTration has raised $14.4 million in venture capital funding. The most recent Seed financing round was led by 2150 with participation from BHP Ventures, Extantia, and Orion Industrial Ventures. Previous investors Azolla Ventures and MIT-affiliated E14 Fund also participated in the oversubscribed round.
About SiTration
SiTration is a spin-out of MIT enabling full value mining by efficiently recovering critical minerals from even the most dilute and complex streams. The company's core technology combines uniquely durable silicon filtration and electro-extraction stages to enable profitable and sustainable recovery of critical minerals including copper, cobalt, nickel, and precious metals. SiTration’s technology can replace traditional resource-intensive mining processes and can be deployed to recover materials from traditionally inaccessible sources, including waste. SiTration is quickly scaling up its validated technology, while working with global mining leaders to deploy pilot systems.
Brendan Smith and Undersecretary Ashley Stolba on a tour of SiTration's new pilot facility. Photo: Mark Wilson Images/for SiTration
