<div>Open-source tech that recovers critical minerals from mine waste. One machine away from a continuous pilot.
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<div>S.E.M Technology (Salt Electro Mining) is an open-source electrochemical mining and refining system. It recovers critical minerals, precious metals, and rare earth elements from ores, mine waste, slags, and e-waste using a low-cost ion exchange membrane process that regenerates its own acids and oxidizers on site. The hardware is released under the CERN-OHL-S v2 open hardware license with a patent grant, and the documentation under CC BY-SA, so anyone can use, build, and improve it.
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<div>What the $30,000 goal covers
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<div>The original $20,000 goal funds the acid-resistant continuous vacuum filtration drum plus fittings, seals, and installation. That goal is now met, thanks to 51 donors, and the drum arrived on site on September 9th. Thank you.
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<div>The remaining $10,000 funds the analytical equipment needed to prove what the system recovers: a used ICP-OES spectrometer and the supporting lab gear (UV-Vis spectrophotometer, analytical balance, certified element standards). Right now important results must be sent out for third-party testing, which is slow and expensive. In-house analysis means faster development and credible recovery data for grants, partners, and public demonstrations.
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<div>Why the drum matters
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<div>Small S.E.M Tech units already work. The chemistry leaches and concentrates valuable metals from real ore and mine waste. The bottleneck is material handling: batch testing means loading, leaching, filtering, washing, and unloading by hand. The continuous vacuum filtration drum separates wet solids from leaching solution continuously, so the system can run at ton-per-day pilot scale instead of stopping after every batch.
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<div>What has already been done
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<div>Years of hands-on development: low-cost ion exchange membrane production, working electrolysis cells, ore and mine waste processing tests, recovery of mixed-metal concentrates, acid and oxidizer regeneration, a dedicated testing lab, and patent work dedicated to open public use.
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<div>See it yourself:
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<div>Videos: youtube.com/@Rowow
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<div>Open-source membrane build: github.com/Rowow-LLC/Open-sourced-off-the-shelf-ion-exchange-membrane
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<div>Website: rowow.net
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<div>Why this matters
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<div>The US urgently needs better ways to recover critical minerals. Valuable elements sit in low-grade ores, tailings, slags, and e-waste that are currently ignored or exported. Conventional refining needs large centralized plants and expensive reagents. S.E.M Tech is a modular alternative that regenerates its process chemicals and reduces waste. The long-term vision: turn mine waste into domestic critical mineral resources using open-source technology.
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<div>How your donation helps
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<div>$100 helps buy materials, chemicals, and consumables needed to test new membrane recipes, leaching methods, electrode designs, and feedstocks.
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<div>$1,000 helps buy or fund equipment, tools, pumps, sensors, lab hardware, and fabrication parts needed to expand S.E.M Tech's capabilities and develop new processes.
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<div>$5,000 helps fund development of new systems and units, such as gas scrubbers, improved electrolysis cells, filtration upgrades, safety systems, and continuous processing equipment.
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<div>If you cannot donate, sharing this fundraiser with people in mining, metallurgy, chemistry, e-waste recycling, or open-source hardware helps tremendously.
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<div>Next milestone
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<div>With the drum installed and analysis in-house, the plan is a fully documented continuous demonstration on real feedstocks: leaching, solid-liquid separation, solution recycling, metal recovery, and public release of the results.
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<div>Thank you for supporting open-source critical mineral recovery.
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Brad Cullen

Levik Shahmirian

Daniel Baldwin

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Ole Jørgen Brønner

Help Turn Mine Waste Into Critical Minerals (Open Source)

Help Turn Mine Waste Into Critical Minerals (Open Source)

Still $9,115 to go. Help us build momentum.