Gopher Resource Shares Waste Valorization Expertise with Global Audience

How the Lead Industry Can Help Meet Growing Demand for Critical Metals

Gopher Resource is advancing the future of sustainable battery recycling by investing in new ways to recover critical metals. At Pb2025 in Amsterdam, Chief Technology & Sustainability Officer Joseph Grogan presented details of Gopher Resource’s strategy on recovering antimony and tin, two essential metals used in lead battery manufacturing and other industrial applications.

A Global Forum for Industry Innovation

Professionals from across the lead and battery industries gathered in Amsterdam for Pb2025, a major global conference dedicated to key insights and trends on lead and its applications. Hosted by the International Lead Association, the event featured expert presentations on market trends, sustainability, responsible sourcing, and innovations in lead battery technology.

A key topic this year: how the industry can improve the supply of critical metals amid political and economic uncertainty. With rising price volatility and supply chain challenges, identifying economically feasible recovery solutions is a growing priority.

Why Tin and Antimony Matter

While lead is the core material in lead batteries, it is often alloyed with antimony and tin to improve strength, conductivity, and durability. These metals are also commonly used beyond batteries—antimony in flame retardants and plastics, and tin in solder and chemical compounds.

While tin and antimony are lesser-known minerals, they are essential to modern technological advancements — from semiconductors to solar panels. As a result, they are considered critical minerals by the Secretary of the Interior, and their market value is rising.

But supplies of both materials are limited, and recovery from non-battery sources is minimal. For example, antimony from flame retardants is rarely recycled in meaningful quantities, Grogan told the audience at Pb2025.

Lead batteries, however, are a proven model of circularity. With a 99% recycling rate, they represent the most successfully recycled consumer product in the world. Still, recovery rates for tin and antimony can vary greatly depending on the processes used.

Capturing Value Through Secondary Recovery Processes

Because of the widespread success of lead battery recycling efforts, the lead industry is well-positioned to help meet the growing demand for tin and antimony. By leveraging existing assets and new technologies, secondary lead processors have an opportunity to recover, refine, and resell these critical materials.

Gopher Resource is continually working to advance critical metals recycling to ensure the safety of our supply chain and meet growing demand for critical materials. One such advancement is Gopher Resource’s patent-pending Slag Cleaning and Recovery of Useful Metals (SCRUM) process, which uses groundbreaking furnace fuming technology to separate tin, antimony, and lead into a concentrated fume form with high selectivity and efficiency. The resulting LME-grade materials can be reused in new batteries or other industrial applications.

Grogan noted that as demand for materials like antimony grows, particularly in emerging technologies such as solar photovoltaic cells, Gopher Resource’s recycling solutions can play a big part to recover more of these critical minerals safely and economically ensuring secure, sustainable supply chains.

Leading Toward a Zero-Waste Future

Gopher Resource is committed to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in battery recycling. By investing in new capabilities and sharing our knowledge with the broader industry, we’re helping to build a future where no valuable material goes to waste.

As global manufacturing evolves, collaboration and innovation will be key to meeting demand while minimizing environmental impact. Gopher Resource is proud to be at the forefront of that effort.