ION appoints former BHP Head of Innovation as new CEO

Our recycling Investment Iondrive (ASX: ION) just appointed a new CEO.

Dr Grant Caffery, the former Head of Innovation at BHP, takes over from 1 August 2026.

At BHP, Caffery led the identification, development and commercial application of new technologies across one of the world's largest mining companies.

So he should fit in nicely with what ION is looking to do.

(source)

ION is developing tech which takes biodegradable, non-toxic “Deep Eutectic” Solvents applies it to things like waste battery material/old electronics (e-waste) and recovers critical minerals like rare earths, cobalt, lithium and silver.

Right now the most advanced workstream ION has is its US rare earths business.

ION has a Letter of Intent with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce for ~US$15M in funding support for a proposed rare earth recycling facility in Oklahoma.

We covered the Oklahoma deal here: ION announces US$15M in support to build heavy rare earth recycling module in Oklahoma, USA

ION’s also working on mineral processing AND has a scrap battery (black mass) recycling pilot plant being built right now.

BUT the US rare earths is the most interesting to us mainly because of the amount of capital looking to go into US rare earths refining/processing.

We mentioned in our saturday weekend note that although the US had made progress on rare earths upstream supply “diversified refining capacity” (basically refining capacity in the West) would only cover 2/3rds of ex-China mined supply and ~1/3rd of magnet production by 2035.

So the upstream’s been fixed somewhat, the midstream will be next…

AND Venture Capital is most interested in companies trying to extract minerals from stuff.

(Like ION)

(source)

We came across this article last week, where the US Department of War announced a US$25M strategic investment in ReElement Technologies.

This was to expand domestic critical mineral refining including rare earths at its Indiana facility.

(source)

So now we want to see ION getting its pilot plant up and running (wet commissioning targeted for Q4 2026) and these other initiatives coming online to then bring in first revenues and prove the tech.

There is also the phase 2 TEE study (techno-economic evaluation) which should be incorporating in some of the improved results from recent testing, including the Dysprosium at 93.5%, Neodymium at 96.5% and Praseodymium at 93.8% recoveries.

What's next for ION?

ION had a new updated presentation out earlier in the month - here is the key slide on what’s next and the plan ahead:

(check out the full presentation here)

Below are the key catalysts we want to see ION deliver:

1. US rare earths partnership (where ION has the most momentum right now)

ION has a binding agreement with Colt Recycling (one of the largest e-waste processors in the US) to potentially roll out its modular recycling technology across Colt's facilities.

ION’s shown it can recover rare earths from Colt’s feedstock.

And now it’s got support from the Oklahoma state government for a recycling facility in the state.

Next we want to see ION progress Front End Engineering Design (FEED) and move toward FID for its facility.

(source)

2. Pilot plant - nickel, lithium, cobalt and graphite from waste batteries

Separate to the proposed US facility, ION is also building a pilot plant right now for its battery recycling tech.

We think this will be a big inflection point for ION, because it takes ION’s tech out of the lab and into a pilot plant.

That plant is being funded largely by a ~A$3.9M non-dilutive grant from the Australian government, and ION expects it to be commissioned by Q4 2026. (source)

Getting tech out of the lab and into a running pilot plant is usually where these companies re-rate - because a working plant is something a financier can actually come and watch, and fund a bigger version of.

So we think the pilot plant being commissioned could trigger a re-rate in ION’s current valuation:

(source)

Of course there is no guarantee the pilot plant does cause a re-rate, we are only basing our observation off the examples from the image above.

3. ION’s mineral processing tech gets de-risked

Any news across the multiple mineral processing testworks ION is doing right now could trigger a re-rate in ION’s share price - especially if it’s in a material that the market is looking for exposure to.

As mentioned earlier ION is testing its tech on cobalt and nickel to begin with.

4. Application into new markets

ION is aiming to recover copper, gold, silver, osmium and rare earth elements from e-waste (Printed Circuit Boards).

Results from these tests could come at arbitrary times.

We could see the market re-rate ION if the results are positive.

Again - these are just potential re-rate catalysts - there’s no guarantee that - A) the company achieves them, and B) even if it does, the market may not care.