Frequently asked questions
Who is Aspiring Materials?
Aspiring Materials is a cleantech company that has developed a world-first process to produce high-quality industry grade carbon-free critical minerals from a single globally abundant rock feedstock.
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The company commissioned a first-of-a-kind mineral processing pilot plant in ÅŒtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand in March 2025.
Who founded the company?
Aspiring Materials was founded by Dr Christopher Oze, Mark Chadderton and Dr Matthew Watson. The trio bring together decades of deep expertise in geology, chemical engineering and industrial commercialisation. Read the origin story.
What are the critical minerals Aspiring Materials produce?
Using their patented ‘Aspiring Process’, the cleantech produces four key minerals/ mineral compounds: magnesium hydroxide, nickel mixed hydroxide, iron hydroxide and reactive silica. The final stage of the process also produces green hydrogen. Read more about the products.
What are the market applications for these critical minerals?
The minerals Aspiring Materials produces are deemed ‘critical’ by all major economies for their specific application across key strategic sectors of defence, clean energy, electronics, advanced manufacturing and building & construction.
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Under traditional extraction processes, these minerals carry supply risk with production and refining highly concentrated in just a few locations that can be vulnerable to geopolitical disruptions.
What makes Aspiring Materials critical minerals cleaner than traditional sources?
Aspiring Materials’ patented ‘Aspiring Process’ is highly efficient, utilising the entire rock feedstock to produce valuable minerals. The process separates out each individual mineral cleanly and discreetly, resulting in high-purity products.
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Due to the composition of the rock feedstock and the Aspiring Process, no emissions are released and any waste produced (e.g. brine) is recycled for reuse. This differs from conventional mineral production, which use processes that release CO2 (e.g. via calcination) and require high heat often only met by fossil fuel energy.
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The Aspiring Process requires less energy than conventional production methods and can be run entirely with clean renewable energy.
For every tonne of our clean minerals used in industrial applications, a total of up to 1.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions can be avoided.
How does the performance of Aspiring Materials critical minerals compare with conventionally produced minerals?
From a chemistry perspective, Aspiring Materials critical minerals are exact replacements for their fossil-fuel derived counterparts. That means they can deliver the same operational results as the incumbent options.
The company is committed to have every mineral tested and verified by independent 3rd party labs against industry standards (where applicable).
Aspiring Materials is also committed to gaining relevant international accreditation (where applicable, e.g. ISO and ASTM certification).
What rock is used as the feedstock and where it is found?
The rock Aspiring Materials uses in its process to produce minerals is a type of ultramafic rock which originates from Earth’s mantle and is rich in the mineral olivine.
Over a geological time scale, these olivine-rich rocks have made their way to the surface by way of geological processes. Olivine-rich rocks primarily comprise magnesium, iron and silica and can be both igneous (solidified molten rock) and metamorphic (heated and pressurised rock).
Does this process mean we need to mine for the rocks?
Not yet. Olivine is the most abundant mineral on earth. While most of this is still underground, it’s in the order of trillions of tonnes. Today, there is already a vast amount of olivine-rich rock on or being brought to Earth’s surface through other mining activities (rare earth metals mining for example).
Olivine is viewed as a low-value waste-rock material, commonly used as roading aggregate or in steel production. As an example of accessible volume, in NZ alone around ½ million tonnes of olivine is being extracted each year from just one existing operation. There is no need to break new ground soon.
How is Aspiring Materials using rocks to capture carbon?
Aspiring Materials low-carbon magnesium hydroxide is an incredible medium for carbon dioxide removal. Their patented carbon mineralisation technology uses water and magnesium hydroxide to mineralise carbon dioxide (CO2) and create a solid material called magnesium carbonate, the same material used as climbers' chalk.
The chemical reaction that occurs is almost instant and durably bonds the CO2 to the magnesium. This technology can be used to sequester carbon dioxide at both point source (e.g. industrial smokestacks) or directly from the air.
How much magnesium hydroxide does it take to capture 1 tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2)?
Aspiring Materials carbon mineralisation technology captures up to 1 tonne of CO2 per 1.3 tonnes of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2).
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What can you do with magnesium carbonate?
Magnesium carbonate (MgCO3), the material created by capturing carbon dioxide with magnesium hydroxide, is a useful input for a range of applications.
A common use is climber's chalk, for magnesium carbonate's superior moisture absorption qualities. The inorganic material is non-toxic and poses no risk to humans, animals or the natural environment.
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Magnesium carbonate is used a fire retardant (e.g. in fire extinguishers and fireproof materials); to make refractory bricks (for high heat industrial applications such as steel making); and has the potential to be used as a cement substitute (supplementary cementitious material, or SCM) in cement manufacturing.
What support and funding has the company received to date?
Aspiring Materials has been well recognised by the global climate and cleantech sector. Founders Dr Chris Oze and Mark Chadderton are Breakthrough Energy Fellows, and the company is an Elemental Impact Portfolio company, an APAC Cleantech25, a 2024 NZ Hi-Tech finalist, 1 of 10 PepsiCo 2023 APAC Greenhouse Accelerator participants and was a three-times nominee for The EarthShot Prize.
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The company has been supported with ongoing New Zealand and overseas venture capital from Motion Capital, Icehouse Ventures, Outset Ventures, K1W1, Breakthrough Energy and Elemental Impact.
When will this technology be running at an industrial scale?
In March 2025 Aspiring Materials commissioned Stage 1 of the first-of-a-kind mineral processing pilot plant, producing quantities for industrial operators to trial and assess the minerals as drop-in replacements to traditionally sourced options.
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Please get in touch if this is of interest to you and your operation.
