Metallium Restarts Chlorinated FJH Testing at Gator Point

Metallium (ASX: MTM) has restarted chlorinated flash joule heating (FJH) testing at its Gator Point technology campus in Texas, the company said. The work resumed after the company secured additional land from the Chambers County Landfill and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to meet separation distance requirements following a permitting review.

Chlorination is a key step in Metallium's FJH metals recovery platform. The process reacts chlorine with target metals to form metal chlorides, which can then be separated and recovered. The platform has been tested on gallium, germanium, and rare earth elements, and can also use other halogens for flexibility with different feedstocks.

The testing follows a two-week ramp-up period, after which a planned 12-hour multi-reactor chlorinated campaign will generate data for reactor optimisation, the company said. Metallium is also working on air dispersion modelling and environmental assessment for longer-lead permits, as well as engineering design for the next stage of FJH scale-up.

Separately, Metallium said it has received the first tranche of a US$500,000 payment from Environmental Clean Technologies (ASX: ECT) under a commercial monetisation deal for MXene testing. The remainder is expected within the week. Preparations are underway for a MXene production testing campaign at Gator Point, using Metallium's FJH reactor platform as a potentially faster processing route.

To support the expanded testing, Metallium has added x-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis equipment at Gator Point, allowing faster onsite analysis and reduced time between testing and reactor adjustments. The company also appointed John Campo as lead engineer. Campo has 30 years of experience in chemical, refining, and process manufacturing at Pinnacle Reliability, BHP Billiton Petroleum, Celanese, and Dow Chemical.

The risk event for Metallium is the progress of its FJH platform toward commercial revenue. Successful completion of the chlorinated campaign and the MXene program would reduce the risk of a prolonged cash-burn phase. The company said the next step is the 12-hour chlorinated campaign, followed by data analysis and optimisation. A delay in permitting or a technical failure in the reactor campaign would increase the risk of further capital needs or slower commercialisation.