American Terbium Corp. uses a proprietary geological model to locate sedimentary paleo‑basin deposits in the U.S. and Canada that are naturally enriched in heavy rare earth elements, especially dysprosium and terbium. The company extracts these minerals with a low‑cost aqueous leach that recovers over 95% of the metal in 24 hours, producing a high‑grade concentrate for domestic separation facilities and reducing reliance on Chinese processing.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Western industries rely heavily on heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium that are predominantly processed in China, creating supply‑chain risk and high costs for critical sectors like electric vehicles, renewable energy, and defense. Existing rare earth deposits in North America are mainly hard‑rock formations that are metallurgically complex, expensive to mine, and not amenable to rapid, low‑cost extraction.
Solution
American Terbium Corp. applies a proprietary geological model to identify extensive paleo‑basin sediment deposits in the United States and Canada that are naturally enriched in heavy rare earth elements (Dy‑Tb). These deposits are hosted in a leachable rock matrix, allowing the company to use a low‑cost proprietary leach solution that recovers more than 95% of the metal content within 24 hours. By producing a high‑grade, rapidly leachable Dy‑Tb concentrate, the company aims to supply domestic separation facilities and reduce dependence on Chinese downstream processing, delivering a sustainable, domestic source of critical HREEs for clean‑energy and defense applications.
Target Audience
Primary customers are manufacturers of electric vehicles, renewable‑energy equipment, and defense hardware that require reliable, domestic sources of high‑value heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium.
Features
- Proprietary geological model that targets paleo‑basin sedimentary deposits with >3× the grade of traditional HREE sources.
- High‑grade heavy rare earth enrichment (dysprosium and terbium) in a host rock that is amenable to rapid leaching.
- Low‑cost, proprietary aqueous leach solution achieving >95% metal recovery in a 24‑hour process.
- Production of a leach concentrate suitable for existing U.S. rare‑earth separation facilities, eliminating the need for Chinese downstream processing.
- Focus on domestic supply chains for electric‑vehicle motors, wind‑turbine generators, and defense systems.