How one startup is using probiotics to try and ease the copper shortage

The article discusses the looming global copper shortage expected within five years, driven by rising demand from sectors like data centers and electric vehicles, potentially causing supply to fall short by up to 25%. While companies and investors are heavily investing in copper mining, a startup named Transition Metal Solutions is taking a novel approach to increase copper extraction efficiency using microbial additives, akin to "probiotics" for copper mines. The company recently raised $6 million in seed funding to scale its technology, which aims to boost copper production by 20% to 30%. Unlike traditional methods that focus on isolating or engineering specific microbial strains to enhance copper recovery—often with limited or short-lived success—Transition Metal Solutions targets the entire microbial community within ore heaps. These microbial communities are complex and largely uncharacterized, with over 90% of species previously unknown and difficult to culture in labs due to harsh heap leach conditions (low pH, presence of clays and metals). Transition’s approach uses low-cost, mostly