Reinventing mineral processing chemistry.
ionX develops ore-specific reagent chemistry to improve critical-mineral recovery on existing equipment.
Demand has never been more urgent.
The resource is already here.
Critical minerals sit in operating mines, processing plants, and accumulated tailings across the country. What limits domestic supply is not the presence of the ore — it is how much usable metal comes out of it. ionX raises that number on equipment that already exists.
Adaptive processing chemistry for critical minerals.
Computationally screened reagent formulations, matched to your feedstock and validated through batch-scale bench testing and continuous pilot trials before deployment.
Ore-specific
Chemistry matched to a specific feed and flowsheet.
Sustainable
More metal from ore already mined — less waste per ton.
Designed for existing equipment
Developed around your feedstock, flowsheet, and operating constraints.
Update for ore variabilityAdapt chemistry as feed changesWhat we characterize before screening View inputs
We characterize the partner feed and process before screening formulations.
Validated at bench scale on a phosphate feedstock.
In bench-scale flotation testing on a single phosphate feedstock, ionX demonstrated a double-digit percentage-point recovery improvement using unchanged test equipment.
Advancing rare-earth separation.
Our next validation program focuses on bench-scale solvent extraction for dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium. The process below shows the broader route from ore to separated product.
In development.
Built at Stanford.
A defense-innovation ecosystem.
ionX updates.
September 2026ionX awarded Tranche 2 of the DIU prototyping fund
A second tranche of prototyping funding under the DIU Commercialization Fellowship, extending the bench line from flotation through leach and three-stage solvent extraction — so a reagent formulation can be validated on a partner’s own feedstock from ore through separated product.
September 1, 2026ionX awarded the TomKat Innovation Transfer Grant
The Stanford TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy awarded ionX a grant through its Innovation Transfer Program to expand the computational side of the platform — scaling the first-principles surface chemistry that narrows candidate reagent formulations before a bench campaign begins.
July 2026ionX awarded Tranche 1 of the DIU prototyping fund
The first tranche of prototyping funding under the DIU Commercialization Fellowship, building ionX’s computational rig and the froth flotation stage of its bench-scale validation line.
May 18, 2026Meet H4D Team ionX: Closing the Strategic Minerals Gap
A feature on how ionX pairs computationally screened, ore-specific reagent formulations with bench-scale validation to raise recovery at facilities that already exist — strengthening domestic and allied critical-mineral supply chains.
Read the feature →
2026A 2026 national-security problem statement
ionX is one of Stanford Hacking for Defense’s 2026 teams, sponsored by In-Q-Tel — tasked with a domestically viable, energy-efficient path to separate heavy rare-earth elements and secure the supply chain for critical defense systems.
View the problem →Let's talk critical minerals.
Rare earths, phosphate, or another strategic feed — we'd like to hear from you.