Selected companies will receive support from Current, Nomadic Venture Partners and industry leaders, including Rio Tinto, to advance water-smart mining technologies
CHICAGO, IL — Current, a nonprofit water innovation hub, and Nomadic Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm, today announced the 2026 participants selected for the Mining Water Tech Pilot Pathway Program, an initiative designed to help early-stage companies advance water technology solutions for the mining industry.
The program aligns with the critical minerals recovery focus of the NSF Great Lakes RENEW Engine, led by Current, and connects innovators, investors, and industry leaders to advance technologies that reduce water use, improve water management, recover critical materials, and enable more sustainable production of the minerals essential to advanced industries and the energy transition.
“Water innovation and critical mineral recovery are essential to strengthening America’s economic competitiveness and technological leadership,” said Dr. Erwin Gianchandani, NSF Assistant Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. “By investing in regional innovation ecosystems like Great Lakes RENEW, NSF is accelerating the development and deployment of technologies that recover valuable resources, improve industrial processes, and strengthen domestic supply chains.”
This year’s program will include support from Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining companies. Members of Rio Tinto’s Copper R&D team will engage directly with participating founders, providing technical perspective and industry insight, with the potential for select companies to advance toward future pilot opportunities.
The 2026 participating companies are:
- PAGE Technologies – Boulder, Colorado: A distributed sensing network that provides real-time water monitoring through hardware and software designed to deliver more frequent, lower-cost, and digitally integrated water-quality intelligence.
- Kira Systems – Boston, Massachusetts: A software-defined heat-pump humidification-dehumidification system that returns clean distillate for on-site reuse and concentrates dissolved metals into a brine or solid stream for low-cost recovery of copper and other critical minerals.
- FAST Metals – Stamford, Connecticut: A proprietary patented chemical process that extracts valuable metals such as iron, aluminum, titanium, scandium, and other rare earth elements from toxic mine tailings, including red mud and iron rich tailings.
- BANiQL – San Jose, California: A selective leaching technology that enables reuse of pregnant leach solution for multiple cycles, saving water and allowing effluent to be recycled back into the system to minimize water uptake.
- Kunin – Chattanooga, Tennessee: A novel ion-exchange system designed to selectively recover various metals (including scandium, gallium, germanium, rare earths, and platinum group metals) from low-concentration aqueous streams.
“Water is one of the most important challenges facing the mining industry, and advancing practical, scalable solutions will be essential as demand for copper and other critical minerals continues to grow,” said Saskia Duyvesteyn, General Manager of Innovation and Technology Systems at Rio Tinto. “Through this program, we are pleased to support early-stage companies developing technologies that can improve water efficiency and help move promising innovations closer to real-world deployment.”
The Mining Water Tech Pilot Pathway Program focuses on four priority areas: mine water treatment, real-time sensing and monitoring, water efficiency, and resource recovery. These areas address some of the mining industry’s most pressing water challenges, including the need to treat mine-influenced water, reduce freshwater intake, improve process control, and recover valuable materials from waste streams.
“As demand for critical minerals grows, we need to scale solutions that use less water, recover more valuable material from wastewater streams, and safeguard source supplies,” said Alaina Harkness, CEO of Current and CEO & PI of Great Lakes RENEW. “This program will help promising companies test, refine, and advance their solutions in real-world conditions, speeding adoption and uptake of circular practices for the mining industry.”
“Mining companies need technologies that can move beyond the lab and work in real operating environments,” said Batchimeg Ganbaatar, co-founder of Nomadic Venture Partners. “This program is designed to help startups understand industry needs, connect with technical and commercial partners, and accelerate the path toward pilot projects.”
The Mining Water Tech Pilot Program is aligned with the goals of the NSF Great Lakes RENEW Engine, led by Current, which focuses on recovering critical elements, nutrients, energy, and water from waste streams. The program is also supported in part by the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build to Scale Program.
For more information about the program, visit https://nomadicvp.com/pilot/
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ABOUT CURRENT
Current is an independent nonprofit water innovation hub, founded in Chicago in 2016, with a mission to grow a circular blue economy, accelerate water innovation, and solve pressing water challenges. Current collaborates with industry, innovators, communities, nonprofits, and governments to advance innovative water technologies and policies that boost our economy while protecting our water resources. In 2024, Current was designated by the U.S. National Science Foundation to lead one of nine Regional Innovation Engines, Great Lakes RENEW (Recovery of Energy, Nutrients, critical Elements, and Water). To date, Current and our partners have delivered on RENEW’s waste-to-wealth mission by collectively raising over $123.2M for regional water innovation and economic development, supporting 19 R&D projects, 40+ pilots, and 400+ startups, training 560 people for blue economy jobs, and engaging 1,650 youth in water STEM programming. Learn more.
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ABOUT NOMADIC VENTURE PARTNERS
Nomadic Venture Partners is a Chicago- and Denver-based venture capital firm investing in pre-seed to series A companies delivering the Metals Transition. The escalating demand for metals and critical minerals, propelled by national security imperatives, the energy transition, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and data centers, necessitates more efficient and sustainable supply solutions. NVP aims to support founders developing technologies that enhance the speed of production, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. Learn more.
ABOUT RIO TINTO
Rio Tinto is a global mining and materials company operating across 34 countries and 6 continents, where 61,000+ employees are working to find better ways to provide the materials the world needs. Its core products—iron ore, copper, aluminium and lithium—are the building blocks of a cleaner, smarter future. To meet growing demand, Rio Tinto is focused on keeping its people safe while running and delivering world-class operations and projects. The company is committed to doing this responsibly—delivering lasting positive impact through deep expertise, strong social licence and long-standing partnerships. Together with its stakeholders, Rio Tinto is helping solve global challenges and create shared success. Learn more.
