Aspiring Materials

📢 Fresh off the press – clean #criticalminerals and essential materials, made local to you. This week, the #AspiringMaterials team has completed another successful production run through our NZ-based mineral processing pilot plant. These photos (care of our CEO Mark Chadderton) highlight the quality and purity of our magnesium, iron and silica filter cakes that we’re producing from ground down olivine ‘flour’. These may not be the kind of cakes you want to eat, but they are the kind of cakes the world needs to reduce its dependency on carbon. If you’re a #USinvestor, #EUinvestor or #industrial operator and want to find out more about our technology, get in touch. 👇 Mark Chadderton Christopher Oze and Colum Rice are on a #USroadshow from next Tuesday 22 April, starting aptly at SF Climate Week and ending the US leg at SelectUSA in Washington DC. The team will then head to London and Brussels in early May before heading home to New Zealand. Clean, emissions-free and made domestically using the Aspiring process, our critical minerals and essential materials are going to transform how resources are distributed across the world. #sfclimateweek #industrialdecabonisation #olivine #selectusa

👉 Check it out – a demonstration trial of our #carbonmineralisation tech in action! In the field of carbon capture and storage, we can talk all day about the theory, but real-world application is what matters. Finding a partner who believes in what you do and is willing to front up with an opportunity to demonstrate your science can be a challenge. We found that partner in PepsiCo through their PepsiCo Greenhouse Accelerator APAC program. It is no secret #AspiringMaterials were finalists in the 2023 APAC GHAC, a programme we gained a tremendous deal of support and mentorship from, that helped us refine our business strategy and operational model. But what that all led to for us has been off the radar, until now. Late last year, PepsiCo supported Aspiring Materials to develop out an engineered solution to capture and mineralise #CO2emissions from an industrial flue. The team at the Bluebird Wiri site (shout out to Toby Smith and Michelle Cassettari 🙌 ) have been amazingly collaborative and supportive, opening their doors to us and providing an optimal environment for us to test and successfully demonstrate our carbon mineralisation technology in an industrial setting. Featured in this video are Simon Reid and Elfie Peterson, the on-the-ground Aspiring Materials team who conducted the demonstration, with backing support from Katherine Izumi 👏 . We’re grateful to have partners like PepsiCo who recognise what we’ve developed has huge potential for industrial decarbonisation. 👀 Next steps? Keep watching… or get in touch if its time to decarbonise your operation. #industrialdecarbonisation #lowemissionsmanufacturing #PepsicoGreenhouseAcceleratorAPAC

It’s been a busy year for us at #AspiringMaterials. Opening our pilot plant facility a couple of weeks back was a huge step forward for us. But alongside that, quietly and studiously working away was our #electrolysis pilot. The purpose-built unit our Lead Electrochemical Engineer Dr. Jared Steven created has been running since the beginning of 2025 and in the last week, we hit over 2000hrs of continuous runtime! 🥳 Proving the electrolysis stage is an important part of our work this year as it allows us to realise our ambition to be #wastefree. By taking the left-over brine (after we extract magnesium, nickel:cobalt:manganese mixed hydroxide and reactive silica) and feeding it into the electrolysis pilot we are able to regenerate and recycle our acid and base back into the process all over again. The brine produced from our processing pilot plant is beautifully clean (evidenced by the video here) and is being used in our electrolysis pilot, completing the closed-loop operation mandate that makes Aspiring Materials a one-of-a-kind solution.

Not just new equipment, new people and new t-shirts too! We're delighted Colum Rice has joined our team as Chief Commercial Officer. Colum's career is characterised by a determined dedication to turning incredible innovations into commercial realisation and the deep experience he brings is a welcomed boost to #AspiringMaterials’ trajectory towards commercial scale. Welcome Colum! You're a fantastic addition to our team and aside from your top-notch commercialisation skills, we're stoked to also tap into your unending commitment to find the best cheese scones within a 1-kilometre radius.

🥳 We’re officially operational! 🎊 And what a feeling it is for our team to go from beaker-sized science to this scale in just a little over 3 years. “Nothing short of an engineering marvel”, says our CEO Mark Chadderton. Last Friday, after beautiful karakia performed by kaumātua Henare Edwards earlier in the day to bless our new site, we welcomed guests to witness the all-important ribbon cutting, shared by Christopher Oze and Hon. Minister Shane Jones, to listen intently to welcome speeches before getting to do what they really came for – guided tours of our new pilot plant. The journey to this point has not been one we’ve done alone. From the design by DETA, Beca and Greenfern Dynamics, to the fabrication by Longveld, to the installation by Swarm Intelligence and PW Engineering, many hands have made light work of the build. We may have never made it past lab scale without the support of the grant funding we’ve received from Callaghan Innovation New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Ara Ake, PepsiCo Greenhouse Accelerator APAC and Breakthrough Energy as well as investment from Icehouse Ventures, Outset Ventures, Motion Capital, K1W1 and Elemental Impact. And we’re confident that our technology is like nothing else in the world, thanks to the expertise of the team at CreateIP. Our early supporters, like Megan Woods, The MacDiarmid Institute (Kevin Sheehy) James Shaw and Ministry of Awesome, were waving the #AspiringMaterials flag well before we were on the #NZcleantech map, and that vote of confidence has buoyed us during the challenging moments that every startup experiences. It’s been a huge team effort and we’re grateful to have such incredible partners to support us as we realise our ambitions. Last Friday was a celebration of what the team has achieved but also what opportunities now lie ahead for Aspiring Materials and for New Zealand. If you came along, thank you for your support. If you didn’t but want to understand more about how Aspiring Materials can help your operation with a local supply of high purity magnesium hydroxide, nickel:cobalt:manganese mixed hydroxide, reactive silica, or hydrogen, message us. Big thanks to Doug from The Records and Michael Kircher from Storylight for both capturing the moment in photo and footage (respectively). 👀 Keep watching! We’re gearing up to make critical minerals and essential materials our industries need every day, right here in New Zealand, without carbon or harmful waste. #cleantech #criticalminerals #economicresilience #newzealand Katherine Izumi Colum Rice Megan Danczyk, PhD Matthew Watson Simon Reid Edward Williams Dr. Jared Steven Elfie Halliday Anna Reid

Great to announce a US$350k investment from Elemental Impact into our portfolio company Aspiring Materials. Aspiring Materials is focused on processing serpentine rocks, such as olivine, into carbon-free critical minerals sich as magnesium, silica and iron. The technology allows for the onshoring of mineral supply chains while avoiding significant emissions. Elemental is supporting the company on their US market entry and positioning, prior to a significant seed round in 2025. Thanks very much to Fiona Rotherham and NBR - National Business Review for the coverage (paywall). https://lnkd.in/g6uwztaD

What does summer mean for you? For us, summer means relaxing, chilling out and shaking off some of the (rock) dust we collected over the past year. But for our #summerinterns, it means knuckling down and putting theory into practice.   This summer, we’re fortunate to have Freddie Coleman (or Freddie as he prefers) join us as one of two summer interns from the University of Canterbury. Despite his first day being the same day we moved offices (think: moving chaos), he has reported that he’s thoroughly enjoying the learning curve he’s on.   Freddie’s just completed his 2nd professional year in Chemical and Process Engineering after completing his BSc at University of Otago in Dunedin, where he calls home. After finding us using his online research skills, he was hooked on the idea that such a simple process could derive so many useful products that also happen to remove carbon. Now, he’s using his summer to flex his research and development skills in our lab. He’s counting on the experience to give him real life insight into what commercial R&D looks like, as well as fine tuning his experimental skills. In amongst his lab time, you’d find Freddie outdoors tramping or doing any sort of activity to keep fit.   Supporting the next generation of changemakers is core to the values of #AspiringMaterials, so we’re stoked to have Freddie join us and use our place as his launchpad for greatness🚀.   #summerinternships #nextgenscientists #futureleaders 

Ah, #Christmastime, a perfect excuse to bring together and thank the people who have helped us get to the stage we are at today. Instead of the Xmas decorations and tree, we gathered beneath the shine of our #pilotplant tanks to say thanks to many of the awesome people who have supported us in our mahi this year. Big thanks to #Baconbros, who turned out top notch delicious eats to warm us on the unseasonably chilling Christchurch evening. 2024 has been another milestone year for #AspiringMaterials. We're keenly aware that the community around us helps us move at the pace we do; the openness from the startup community, the steadiness from our business partners, the confidence from our investors and of course, the expertise and passion from our team. It all blends together to push Aspiring Materials further, faster. You may not have made it to our Xmas gathering, so we send three cheers to you 👏 👏 👏... we're grateful for your support and wish you a safe and joyful break over the coming weeks. 🌈 🌞

Why is being the least experienced person in the room the best place to be? Because it can give you the enviable edge of seeing things from the outside and it's a superpower we’re grateful to tap into while Alice Napier carries out her summer internship at #aspiringmaterials.   Alice is one of two interns giving up their beach and chill time to gain #realworldexperience to help push ahead in their career paths. Building on her Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), specialising in Chemical and Process Engineering (with a minor in bioprocess engineering) at University of Canterbury, Alice’s internship aim is to grow her confidence as a young engineer and be surrounded by people who push her past her point of comfort.   Alice chose Aspiring Materials for her 3rd year internship as her love for innovative approaches to #climatesolutions resonated with our mission. A close-knit small team appealed too, providing a supportive learning environment with direct access to anyone she wants to learn more from.   When she’s not here in the lab researching and testing out applications for our carbon-free #magnesiumhydroxide, Alice enjoys a run with friends through beautiful Hagley Park here in Christchurch, relaxing with a book or whipping up some baked delights.   Aside from those fresh sweet treats, we get to benefit from the fresh thinking and perspective Alice brings to our team 🙌 .   #summerinternships #nextgenscientists #futureleaders

What a way to end the year! 🥳  We’re proud to announce Aspiring Materials joins the Elemental Impact portfolio today. This new partnership signals further confidence in the climate impact our technology can deliver to industries, communities and the planet. The support this seasoned non-profit investor brings to our journey will be of great value as we enter our scale-up phase. Our involvement with Elemental Impact will give us access to their expertise and facilities and a community of 160+ companies across energy, agriculture, transportation, industry and nature-based solutions. As one of 16 new investments Elemental Impact has announced, we’ll also gain new friends in other climate tech start-ups who are on similar tracks to us and we look forward to meeting, sharing and learning with them. With 15 years of experience scaling innovative technology projects that have deep climate and community impact, Elemental Impact is a badge we are truly proud to pin on our sleeve. #aspiringmaterials #elementalimpact