BHP Ventures invests in copper extraction technology company’s $30m fundraising

BHP’s Xplor is only interested in copper and nickel projects for now. Stock image.

Ceibo, a Chilean advanced copper extraction technology company, announced Monday that BHP Ventures, the miner’s dedicated venture capital unit, has joined as an investor, closing its Series B financing of over $30 million to accelerate its primary and secondary sulphides leaching process.

Ceibo has put together a consortium of financial investors and mining companies to collaborate on and support the commercialization of its low carbon technology. They include Energy Impact Partners, CoTec Holding, Audley Capital, Orion Industrial Ventures, Unearth Capital and Opalton, Khosla Ventures and Aurus Ventures.

Ceibo is focused on continued on-site testing and engineering during the last quarter of this year. The technology developed by the company targets chalcopyrite and other refractory copper minerals containing more than 70% of known copper reserves.

Ceibo has developed a broad set of clean technologies in recent years that are being operated by Ceibo’s team in different mining districts to improve operation efficiency and generate positive environmental impacts.

“This capital increase, together with the strategic support of investors like BHP Ventures, will help us accelerate plans to deploy our technology globally,” Ceibo CEO Cristóbal Undurraga said in the statement.