Found Industries Opens Cambridge Center to Scale Gallium Recovery From U.S. Industrial Waste

Highlights

• Found Industries opened a Cambridge, MA process-development center to scale electrochemical gallium recovery from existing industrial waste streams.
• The U.S. has been 100% net import reliant on gallium and has not produced it domestically since 1987, making recovery technology strategically critical.
• DOE selected Found among five TRACE-Ga projects targeting prototype technologies capable of recovering at least one metric ton of gallium per year.
• Found signed an MOU with ARES Strategic Mining to evaluate gallium and germanium recovery from Utah's Lost Sheep Mine feedstocks.
• No commercial output, recovery rates, or operating costs have been disclosed; continuous operation on real feedstock with verified economics remains the next key milestone.

America may already have gallium flowing through its factories—it simply has not been capturing it. MIT spinout Found Industries (opens in a new tab) has opened a Cambridge, Massachusetts process-development center to move its critical-mineral recovery technology from laboratory work toward continuous industrial operation. The company is targeting gallium first, with germanium, indium, and antimony also in its pipeline. That matters because the United States remains 100% net import reliant on gallium and has not produced primary gallium domestically since 1987. The opportunity is real; commercial scale is not yet proven.

REEx Insight | What If the Waste Stream Is the Mine?

Found’s strategy attacks a frequently overlooked bottleneck. Gallium generally does not require discovering a shiny new gallium mine; it can be recovered as a byproduct from existing industrial streams. Found’s electrochemical process aims to recover gallium directly from dilute processing liquor while avoiding ion-exchange preconcentration and major changes to the underlying production circuit. That could matter enormously—but could is the operative word.

Cambridge Is a Bridge, Not a Finish Line

DOE selected Found among five TRACE-Ga projects pursuing domestic gallium recovery, with the federal program targeting prototype technologies ultimately capable of at least one metric ton per year. Selection remains subject to award negotiations.

Found also signed an MOU with ARES Strategic Mining (opens in a new tab) to evaluate gallium and germanium recovery from Utah’s Lost Sheep Mine feedstocks.

Investors should resist turning “process-development center” into “commercial production.” No commercial gallium output, operating cost, recovery rate, or sustained industrial throughput is disclosed in the source article. The next milestone is continuous operation on real feedstock—with economics attached.

REEx Connect

Found Industries (opens in a new tab) — Peter Godart, Founder & CEO (opens in a new tab) ARES Strategic Mining (opens in a new tab) — Lost Sheep Mine, Utah U.S. Department of Energy TRACE-Ga (opens in a new tab) — Domestic gallium recovery program Source: Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, August 7, 2026.