More critical minerals from the same mine.

We design the chemistry that makes it happen: in months, not a decade.

$65 billion

committed by governments to critical minerals in 2025, over four times the 2023 level.

Minerals in one electric car: copper 53 kg, rare earths 0.5 kg, graphite 71 kg, nickel 54 kg, cobalt 11 kg, lithium 8 kg, aluminum about 400 kg, steel about 900 kg. Copper 53 kg Rare earths 0.5 kg Graphite 71 kg · Nickel 54 kg Cobalt 11 kg · Lithium 8 kg Aluminum ≈ 400 kg Steel ≈ 900 kg
Materials in one F-35 fighter jet: rare earths 417 kg, samarium-cobalt 23 kg, neodymium 8 to 20 kg, titanium about 2,600 kg. Samarium-cobalt 23 kg Rare earths 417 kg Neodymium 8–20 kg Titanium ≈ 2,600 kg
$6.5 trillion

of production outside China is exposed to rare earth export controls.

The hard step is processing.

  1. Mine
  2. Crush and grind
  3. Process
  4. Metal and magnets

Processing chemistry (reagents) pulls the valuable mineral out of the rock. The wrong chemistry sends it to waste.

Up to 90%

of the world’s processing of critical minerals happens in China.

Reagents are chosen by costly trial and error.

  1. Lab campaign (months)
  2. Ore changes
  3. Start again
$10K–$100K

per lab campaign.

ionX develops processing chemistry matched to your feedstock.

Ore-specific

Designed for each feed and flowsheet.

Sustainable

More metal from ore already mined.

Designed for existing equipment

No new capex.

CharacterizeFeed + process profile
→
ScreenDigital twin + ranked formulations
→
Bench validateOptimize chemistry
→
Pilot validateReplicate plant conditions
→
PackageChemistry + operating window
→
Deploy & verifyImplement + confirm performance
→
Update for ore variabilityAdapt chemistry as feed changes

Validated on a phosphate feedstock.

Advancing rare-earth and copper processing.

ionXReagent chemistry
01OreRun-of-mine
02ComminutionCrush & grind
03FlotationREE concentrate
04CrackingRoast & leach
05Solvent extractionElement separation
06RefiningRare-earth oxides
07Metals & magnetsNdFeB

In development.

Built by pioneering Stanford scientists.

Amir Eskanlou
Amir Eskanlou
Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Stanford Postdoctoral Research Scientist. Ph.D. in Mineral Processing and Computational Materials Science. 15 years across mineral processing research and industry.

Ari Economon
Ari Economon
Chief Operating Officer

Stanford MBA. Manufacturing, strategy and commercial operations. Leads build-out of the bench validation capability and partner-facing engagement.

Advisors
Glenn Gaffney
Glenn Gaffney
Former CIA Director of Science & Technology
Steve Blank
Steve Blank
Hacking for Defense
Steve Weinstein
Steve Weinstein
Hacking for Defense
Mark Breier
Mark Breier
Former In-Q-Tel
Dawn Wellman
Dawn Wellman
Senior Research Fellow, SRNL

Supported by

  • Stanford University
  • Stanford Technology Ventures Program
  • TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, Stanford University — Innovation Transfer Program
  • StartX
  • NVIDIA Inception Program
  • Hacking for Defense — program origin
  • Common Mission Project
  • NSF I-Corps
  • Defense Innovation Unit — Commercialization track
  • Defense Innovation OnRamp Hubs — OnRamp Hub Arizona

ionX updates.

ionX presenting to the visiting Taiwan delegation in a seminar room at Stanford
Common Mission ProjectOctober 5, 2026

ionX briefs a Taiwan delegation at Stanford

ionX briefed a visiting Taiwan delegation on its path from Stanford Hacking for Defense to a company.

AnthropicOctober 2026

ionX receives an Anthropic AI for Science award

Compute credits supporting ionX’s reagent design work.

NVIDIA Inception ProgramOctober 2026

ionX accepted into NVIDIA Inception

Access to NVIDIA technical resources and training.

Defense Innovation UnitSeptember 2026

ionX awarded Tranche 2 of the DIU prototyping fund

Extends the bench line from flotation through leach and solvent extraction, under the DIU Commercialization Fellowship.

TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, Stanford UniversitySeptember 1, 2026

ionX awarded the TomKat Innovation Transfer Grant

Expands the computational side of ionX’s platform.

Defense Innovation UnitJuly 2026

ionX awarded Tranche 1 of the DIU prototyping fund

Funds ionX’s computational rig and the flotation stage of its bench line.

Selling to DefenseMay 18, 2026

Meet H4D Team ionX: Closing the Strategic Minerals Gap

How ionX pairs ore-specific reagent formulations with bench validation to raise recovery.

Read the feature →
Hacking for Defense2026

A 2026 national-security problem statement

A 2026 Stanford Hacking for Defense team, sponsored by In-Q-Tel, working on heavy rare earth separation.

View the problem →

Let's talk critical minerals.

Emailinfo@ionxtechnologies.com
LocationPalo Alto, California