News: Suppliers
8 April 2026
Metallium completes Phase I SBIR contract within six months
Metallium Ltd of Subiaco, Western Australia, says that its subsidiary Flash Metals Texas Inc of Houston, TX, USA has completed Phase I of its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the US Department of War (DoW) through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).
Metallium is pioneering a low-carbon, high-efficiency approach to recovering critical and precious metals from mineral concentrates and high-grade waste streams. Developed at Rice University, patented Flash Joule Heating (FJH) technology enables extraction of high-value materials (including gallium, germanium, antimony, rare-earth elements, and gold) from feedstocks such as refinery scrap, e-waste and monazite. Metallium’s first commercial site is in Texas, operated via subsidiary Flash Metals USA.
The SBIR program ‘Domestic Recovery of Gallium from Waste through Flash Electrothermal Chlorination’ applied Metallium’s proprietary FJH metal recovery technology to recover gallium from gallium-rich waste streams including semiconductor scrap and electronic waste materials. These feedstocks commonly contain germanium and other valuable strategic metals, expanding the potential impact of the FJH technology across multiple critical material supply chains.
“We achieved or exceeded all technical milestones under the contract and delivered the required workstreams within six months, significantly faster than the typical 12-month SBIR Phase I program duration,” says Metallium’s managing director & CEO Michael Walshe.
“We have validated the capability of our Flash Joule Heating technology to address a key national security challenge for the US,” says Steve Ragiel, president of Metallium’s US operations. Gallium is a critical material used in advanced semiconductors, radar systems, satellite electronics and next-generation defense technologies, he adds. “Demonstrating a pathway to recover gallium domestically from waste streams aligns directly with US strategic objectives to build resilient supply chains for defense-critical minerals.” Completing the program in half the typical timeframe also “highlights the maturity of our technology platform and the strength of our team”.
