MGE Startup Advances in International Mining Challenge

Auxilium Technology Group, a mining company co-founded by MGE faculty, has moved to the final round of the BHP Tailings Challenge, an international competition to develop new technologies for mine tailings. Interim MGE department head Moe Momayez and MGE associate professor Jaeheon Lee co-founded Auxilium with entrepreneur Abraham Jalbout to address growing concerns about mining's impact on the environment. Last year, Auxilium was selected as one of 10 finalists in the competition. But after a recent "demo day," BHP narrowed the field down to just two finalists.

The Arizona Daily Star wrote about Auxilium's advancement, stating that one or both of the finalists will be in line for a final challenge prize of $8.6 million to implement an on-site industrial pilot plant, with the goal of entering into a commercial agreement with a third party that will use its tailings as raw material to produce marketable products.

Auxilium can extract valuable industrial chemicals from mine tailings, along with remaining metals of value, such as copper, molybdenum and gold, using its high-efficiency extraction process invented by Lee. 

“I think we’re all confident about the work we’re doing, and I think what really helped was having a strong business case, as well as the technical case,” Jalbout told the Star.