A Fishers-based company is using a new technology to help America strengthen its position in the minerals market by recycling critical elements from batteries. 

ReElement Technologies uses a technology developed and perfected over the last 40 years at Purdue University by Professor Linda Wang. ReElement Technologies can place used batteries into specially designed resin-filled tubes to extract rare earth elements previously lost during the recycling process.  

Dave Sauve, ReElement Technologies’ Chief Marketing Officer, says the company is a “midstream refiner” with a long-term goal of decentralizing the rare earth element supply chain, which China currently dominates. 

In addition to end-of-life materials like batteries, ReElement Technologies can take freshly mined ore and purify it into a commercially viable product. Sauve calls this an “Industry game changer.” He also says the material is much-needed and environmentally safer for the domestic supply chain of critical materials. 

Currently, ReElement Technologies sells its services to U.S. producers of recycled and ore-sourced rare earth metals, but Sauve says he looks forward to the technology being used on-site at overseas mines and manufacturers. 

While he doesn’t expect the United States to overtake China in the market, Sauve says the new technology will dent China’s current monopoly on the critical mineral market.