Metals US, a Montana-based company with a sustainable metals processing technology, today announced that it will be headquartered in Missoula, Mont.
The technology company offers cost effective and sustainable systems to recover and purify high value metals that are used to manufacture high-tech devices such as cell phones, hybrid vehicles, computer display screens, batteries and alternative energy.
Metals US’s Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) technology was developed by a former director of the chemistry lab at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Rich Hammen, and his sons John and Chris Hammen. With more than $3 million in government and industry funding support to date, the SPE technology is based on the “Spiderweb” nanocomposite metal binding matrix developed by the Hammen family and IntelliMet, LLC, a Hammen-owned company. The technology can be used in diverse mine environments, for environmental remediation of metal-contaminated water and for recycling of industrial waste streams.
“Our technology has been recognized as a leading technology and has the potential to revolutionize the mining and water processing industries,” according to John Hammen, president and CEO of Metals US. “We expect Solid Phase Extraction to transform the landscape of the metal processing space by bringing low cost, high purity, zero discharge and green processing methods to an industry very much in need of new technology options.”
Once underway, Metals US hopes to create around 120 jobs that pay well and are based in Montana, according to Jerry Furniss, a University of Montana business professor who cofounded Metals US and serves on the board of directors. The jobs would primarily be in materials and environmental science.
“I share the Hammen family vision of bringing clean manufacturing to Montana,” Furniss said. “In addition, we will work to attract complementary value-added businesses that can use the metals that we purify to build the next generation of clean technology designed to improve our lives.“
For more information on Metals US, visit the Metals US website.
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