Founded in 2020 by Daniel Sun, based on research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Molecular Foundry, Sunchem has developed a proprietary leaching solution and nano-filter technology using metal-organic frameworks to sustainably extract gold, copper and silver from e-waste and contaminated mining inputs, recovering up to 99% of metals without the toxic chemicals used in smelting or cyanide leaching.
The company has produced 99.999% pure gold from device-manufacturer waste scrap, received support from the US Department of Energy, and joined Rio Tinto's cohort in the Founders Factory Mining Accelerator, as it raises a seed round to build its first pilot facility.
