Rethinking mineral extraction.
Empire Mine & Dredge is developing a proprietary approach to subsurface mineral extraction, designed to access, mobilize and recover valuable mineral-bearing material without the conventional requirement to first remove large volumes of overburden.
First commercial application
Nome, Alaska
Moving value. Not the earth.
What if you didn’t have to remove all the worthless material to reach the valuable material?
Conventional extraction can require substantial excavation, material movement, storage and remediation simply to access the target resource.
Empire’s methodology is designed to extract target material located at depth to the surface without removal of overburden, saving significant time, cost and energy.
A different approach
Four stages, delivered as one integrated platform.
- 01
Penetrate / Position
Deploy the Vibropump to the target depth.
- 02
Extract
Draw the mineral-bearing material to the surface.
- 03
Process
Separation and recovery on board.
- 04
Repeat
Extract and reposition the Vibropump, and repeat.
MVP complete, production Vibropump in development
Empire’s strategy is to move from engineering development through physical testing and towards commercial application.
Nome, Alaska
Nome is intended to provide both a route to mineral production and a real-world environment in which Empire’s technology can be commercially evaluated.
Nome is intended to be the first commercial deployment, not the limit of the opportunity.
One technology. Multiple possibilities.
Empire is commercializing an extraction methodology, not a single-purpose machine.
Mineral extraction
Targeted recovery of subsurface mineral-bearing material, making the uneconomical economical again.
Marine and offshore
Where water depth, overburden and extraction limitations challenge conventional methods.
Difficult material
Compacted or difficult-to-handle material, and increased flow density of up to 40%+ solids by weight.
Environmental and specialist
Targeted subsurface removal of contaminants, or injection of treatment options to improve in-situ treatment outcomes.
Building what comes next
How would you like to engage with Empire?