Unlocking copper the industry left behind
~70% of the world's copper sits in low-grade primary sulfide ores — chalcopyrite chief among them — stranded by a fundamental barrier that conventional leaching cannot overcome. Jetti's catalyst unlocks chalcopyrite, working within your existing heap and SX-EW infrastructure.
Not all copper ore is created equal
Copper deposits contain three mineralogical families — each with fundamentally different chemistry, leachability, and extraction economics. Understanding the difference explains why low-grade primary sulfides remained stranded for decades.
Oxide ores
Oxide ores — malachite, azurite, chrysocolla — sit near the surface in the weathered zone. They dissolve readily in dilute sulfuric acid, making them ideal for standard heap leach → SX-EW processing. Well understood, low risk, and the historical foundation of the copper hydrometallurgy industry — but progressively depleting as shallow deposits are exhausted.
Why chalcopyrite resisted for 50 years
Passivation is not a physical crust — it is an electrochemical phenomenon. The surface layer that forms during chalcopyrite leaching turns the mineral from a resistor into a diode, choking electron flow and halting copper dissolution. Our hypothesis: three mechanisms combine.
Fresh chalcopyrite surface: ferric ions (Fe³⁺) attack the mineral. Electrons transfer freely from the n-type bulk mineral to the oxidant. Copper dissolves into solution — leaching proceeds normally in the early stages of a bioleach.
Our hypothesis: three mechanisms combine to block extraction
Five steps from ore to cathode
Jetti integrates into standard heap leach operations with minimal infrastructure changes. No flowsheet redesign, no special permits, no changes to the mining methods. Select each step to explore.
Step 1 — Ore placement
Chalcopyrite ore (Most common primary sulfide ore) — whether run-of-mine (ROM) or crushed material— is stacked onto a lined heap leach pad using existing conveying and stacking equipment. No changes to mining methods, blasting, or haulage are required. Jetti can be applied to new lifts on active pads, or to rehandled stockpile material, without interrupting production.
Three pillars that protect your operation
Jetti's technology is built to integrate without disruption. Three independently tested properties — biocompatibility, reversibility, and SX/EW compatibility — mean your existing processes continue to perform exactly as they do today.
Biocompatible with iron-oxidizing bacteria
Tested across multiple temperatures — independent laboratoryIron-oxidizing and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are the engine of bioleaching — they regenerate the ferric oxidant that drives chalcopyrite dissolution. Jetti’s catalyst was specifically designed not to interfere with this biological system, and independent testing confirms this.
Fully reversible — no legacy effects
Electrochemical and biological reversibility — independent laboratory confirmedIf a mine operator decides to stop catalyst addition — for any reason — the heap system returns to its pre-Jetti baseline. There are no irreversible changes to the mineral surface, the bacterial community, or the leach solution chemistry.
Removing the catalyst from the raffinate stops the electron-bridge effect immediately. Within a few cycles the surface layer reforms and leaching returns to its standard SHL kinetics. SX-EW chemistry is unaffected throughout.
Reversibility demonstrated in the heap circuit. Electrochemical response returns toward the pre-Jetti baseline after catalyst removal. Two independent impedance metrics are shown side by side for comparison.
Electrochemical response moves through passivation, de-passivation after catalyst removal, and re-passivation — two independent impedance metrics tracked over cumulative time.
After catalyst removal the response drops (de-passivation) and then recovers toward baseline (re-passivation), consistent with no persistent legacy effect.
No impact on SX, EW, or cathode quality
Independent third-party testing — lab and industrial scaleThe catalyst circulates through the full leach circuit — which means it passes through the SX plant in every raffinate cycle. Significant testwork and current commercial operation confirm that the catalyst at heap concentrations does not detrimentally impact extraction efficiency, phase disengagement time, interfacial tension, electrolyte quality, or cathode grade.
Data from an operating Jetti site shows 100% A-grade cathode since implementation — with zero cathode quality rejections. EW pilot testing showed higher current efficiency in catalyzed conditions than in the control (94.1% vs 89.9%). No changes to organic consumption, no crud formation, no co-extraction of deleterious elements.
Rosetta — Column digital twin
Rosetta is Jetti's column digital twin — designed to simulate column testwork and support commercial decision-making. Built on more than 10 years of extensive testwork, it converts mineralogical data, catalyst dose, column conditions, and time into catalyst and control recovery trajectories. This serves as a quick, site-specific business case before a single tonne of ore is processed.
Neural network ensemble model
Rosetta runs an ensemble of neural networks trained on 10+ years of column testwork. Each prediction includes a P20–P80 confidence band — a probabilistic recovery range, not a single point estimate.
User-configurable column inputs
Set irrigation rate, column height, P80, and column diameter. Rosetta converts these into internal model features before inference — no specialist expertise required.
Catalyzed vs. control — side by side
Every run outputs both the catalyzed ensemble mean and the control baseline on the same chart. The separation between the two curves is the traceable expected uplift under the specified conditions.
A standardized ladder from lab to mine
Jetti's validation pathway is structured, sequential, and data-gated — each stage de-risks the next, and no commercial decision is made without the evidence to support it.
Reactor testwork
Phase 1 — Ore qualificationReactor tests are rapid, small-scale experiments that evaluate ore samples for catalyst amenabilitiy before any investment in column infrastructure. Multiple ore types from a single site can be tested in parallel — characterising mineralogical variability and identifying the most amenable ore domains.
Typically available within 12–16 weeks of sample receipt.
Column testwork
Phase 2 — Heap simulationColumn tests simulate heap leach conditions at a scale that captures mass transfer, permeability, and solution channelling effects absent in reactor tests. Crushed ore at representative P80 is packed into columns, irrigated at site-representative rates.
All columns are run in duplicate with matched control and catalyzed pairs under identical conditions. Batch SX is performed independently on each column PLS using site-sourced organic — confirming SX/EW compatibility before commercial deployment.
Industrial trial
Optional — risk-reward decisionIn some cases, operators prefer to move directly from reactor testwork to an industrial-scale trial — either instead of, or in parallel with, column testwork. This is a commercial and operational decision made jointly with Jetti, based on the operator's risk appetite, site conditions, and strategic timeline.
It provides early production upside while simultaneously de-risking the technology under site-specific conditions.
Industrial deployment
Phase 3 — Commercial operationCommercial deployment requires minimal site modification. Jetti's compact dosing unit connects to the existing raffinate line — the only tie-ins required are a raffinate source, an electricity connection, and a water line. No changes to the SX plant, leach pad geometry, or downstream processing are needed.
Performance KPIs are agreed with the site operator before deployment and govern the commercial relationship. Jetti monitors all KPIs in real time through an integrated data system.
Start with your ore. We'll model the rest.
Jetti’s standardized assessment process begins with a sample request and a site information questionnaire. Most sites receive a go / no-go recommendation within 12 weeks of sample receipt.