Kunin
Bringing Mining Back to America — ion-exchange tech for critical mineral recovery from mining waste.
The product
Vertically integrated ion-exchange technology for recovering critical minerals — scandium, gallium, germanium, vanadium, copper, and uranium — from mining waste streams and byproducts. Kunin packages proven ligand-based ion-exchange resins (a chemistry pioneered by company namesake Robert Kunin at Rohm & Haas in the 1940s) into pre-assembled modular skid systems that retrofit onto existing mining operations, paired with multiphysics digital twins and automated process controls. The company also offers project finance structures so mine owners can develop byproduct assets.
The thesis
The U.S. has not produced primary gallium in nearly 40 years and is 100% import-reliant on China, which controls roughly 98% of global supply and in 2024 restricted exports of ion-exchange technologies to Western buyers. Kunin estimates over $3 trillion of value is locked in U.S. mining waste and byproduct resources that today are uneconomical to recover. Recovering those metals domestically — gallium, germanium, scandium, vanadium — directly feeds the semiconductor, magnet, fiber optic, defense, and wind-turbine supply chains that depend on them, making Kunin a reshoring play at the chokepoint between mining and refining.
Evidence ledger
- website · 2026-05-28
Kunin identifies as a reindustrialization company.
https://kunin.tech
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