By Associate Professor Caitlin Byrt, Co-founder and Co-director, Membrane Transporter Engineers

The case for transforming mining wastewater from an environmental liability into a strategic economic asset.

Australia’s mining industry is an economic engine, contributing more than 13 per cent of gross domestic product.¹ Yet, one of the mining sector’s greatest untapped opportunities is not buried deep underground; it already exists above ground as mining waste in tailings dams, acid mine drainage streams, and legacy wastewater systems.

Mining waste is increasingly being recognised as a vast secondary resource containing recoverable copper, lithium, cobalt, rare-earth elements and other critical minerals essential for the energy transition. Technologies such as the Bioderived Element Resource Separation Technology (BERST) – developed at the Australian National University (ANU) by the founding team of Membrane Transporter Engineers (MTE) Pty Ltd – demonstrate how Australia could transform mining wastewater from an environmental liability into a strategic economic asset.

Mining wastewater has been an overlooked source of critical mineral resources in Australia. Globally, industrial mining sites are estimated to contain approximately US$3.4 trillion worth of recoverable metals trapped in wastewater and various tailings storage facilities.² The wastewater streams often contain dissolved copper, lithium, cobalt, manganese, zinc and rare-earth elements that are too dilute or complex for conventional operations to recover economically; however, as demand for critical minerals accelerates due to electrification, battery manufacturing and renewable energy infrastructure, even low-concentration waste streams are becoming strategically valuable. Australia is already among the world’s leading producers of lithium, iron ore, copper and rare-earth resources, but a major bottleneck remains in our downstream processing capability. Recovering minerals from existing mine waste streams offers a pathway to increase domestic feedstocks without opening entirely new mines.

The environmental burden associated with mining wastewater is enormous. Acid mine drainage (AMD) is regarded as one of the mining industry’s most persistent and expensive legacies. AMD forms when sulphide-bearing rocks are exposed to oxygen and water, generating sulphuric acid that dissolves metals into surrounding waterways. In Australia, historical and active mines continue to release acidic, metal-rich water decades after operations cease.³ At the historical Mount Lyell Mine site in Tasmania, AMD has caused severe ecological damage, including biologically dead river systems and copper contamination extending into Macquarie Harbour.⁴ Similarly, research at the historical Mount Morgan Mine found downstream river sections with pH values as low as 2.8–4.2, and metal concentrations orders of magnitude above environmental guidelines, causing repeated fish kills estimated at approximately 26,000 fish during monitored flow events.⁵

The financial costs of managing mine waste are substantial. A national Australian assessment estimated that managing acid-generating mine waste costs the industry roughly A$60 million annually, while remediation of historical contaminated sites can exceed A$100,000 per hectare.3 These figures illustrate why improved water management is not only a pressing environmental issue, but also an increasingly core operational and financial burden for mining companies, governments, and investors.

This is where BERST represents a potentially transformative advance.⁶ BERST uses bioengineered proteins inspired by the selective filtration systems evolved by plants over billions of years. Plants routinely perform remarkable separation chemistry: they absorb essential nutrients from extremely dilute soil solutions while excluding toxic elements and regulating salt balance with extraordinary precision.⁷ BERST adapts these biological principles into biotechnology-enabled membrane separation systems capable of selectively recovering dissolved metals from complex wastewater streams.

While the science behind BERST was developed at ANU, translating the technology into a commercial venture required more than research capability alone. MTE’s early growth was supported by the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN), whose innovation programs helped the team move from concept to commercialisation. The company’s journey began at a CBRIN hackathon in 2020, where the founders pitched the idea of giving waterways ‘kidneys’ to filter pollutants. The idea earned MTE first place, and opened the door to further incubation, mentoring and investor connections.

Conventional mining wastewater treatments typically rely on chemical precipitation, lime neutralisation, membrane filtration or evaporation. While effective at reducing contamination, these approaches often generate mixed sludges that are difficult to refine economically, consume large quantities of chemicals and energy, and fail to selectively separate high-value elements at high purity. BERST instead mimics the molecular selectivity of biological membranes, enabling highly targeted extraction of specific metals even when they are present at low concentrations alongside competing contaminants. This capability is significant because purity determines whether recovered materials can directly enter downstream refining and manufacturing supply chains.

The operational advantages are potentially substantial. First, treating wastewater as a resource rather than a disposal problem creates an entirely new revenue stream from existing infrastructure. Tailings dams, wastewater ponds and acid drainage systems effectively become ore bodies already crushed, processed and partially solubilised. Recovering copper, lithium or rare-earth elements from these streams could offset treatment costs while simultaneously reducing environmental liabilities. In many cases, the dissolved metals causing pollution are precisely the same materials needed for batteries, electrification and renewable energy technologies.

Second, BERST-like systems may dramatically reduce long-term closure liabilities. Australia is projected to have approximately 240 mines close by 2040⁸, many requiring ongoing water treatment and environmental management for decades after production ceases. Technologies capable of simultaneously cleaning water and recovering saleable products could shift mine rehabilitation from a perpetual cost centre into a partially self-funding process.

Third, improved water recycling directly strengthens operational resilience. Mining increasingly competes with agriculture and urban populations for freshwater access, particularly in arid Australian regions. Advanced treatment systems can enable greater reuse of process water, reducing freshwater demand and exposure to drought risk. Some mining operations globally already report recycling rates approaching 90 per cent through closed-loop water systems.⁹ As water scarcity intensifies under climate change, efficient water reuse will become central to maintaining social licence and operational continuity.

The commercial implications extend beyond individual mines. Australia faces growing pressure to expand domestic critical minerals processing capacity rather than exporting raw concentrates overseas. Yet, building entirely new extraction and refining infrastructure is capital-intensive, environmentally challenging and socially contentious. Recovering metals from existing waste streams provides a lower-impact pathway to support domestic refining industries. Waste-derived feedstocks could help stabilise supply chains for copper, lithium and rare-earth processing without the environmental footprint and substantial capital costs associated with opening entirely new mines.

This approach aligns strongly with circular economy principles, where waste streams are redesigned as productive inputs rather than discarded outputs.¹⁰ In a circular mining model, water is recycled, metals are continually recovered, and environmental liabilities are progressively reduced over time. Such systems improve resource efficiency, reduce emissions associated with primary extraction, and increase the productive life span of mining assets. Rather than viewing closure as the end of economic activity, circular approaches create opportunities for ongoing recovery, remediation and resource generation.

Importantly, circular water management also improves investor confidence and community trust. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance increasingly influences access to capital and project approvals. Technologies that reduce contamination, lower freshwater consumption, and recover strategic minerals simultaneously address multiple ESG priorities. For mining companies operating in a future shaped by carbon constraints, water scarcity and supply chain security concerns, these capabilities may become a major competitive advantage.¹¹

For MTE, building those capabilities has depended not only on scientific innovation, but also on access to a collaborative innovation ecosystem. Canberra’s proximity to ANU, CSIRO and CBRIN has enabled the company to combine world-class research with entrepreneurial support, commercial guidance and industry connections. For deep-tech ventures operating at the intersection of biotechnology and mining, that ecosystem support is often critical to bridging the gap between laboratory research and real-world industry adoption.

Australia possesses both the mining expertise and the biotechnology research capacity to lead this transition. BERST illustrates how combining molecular biology, nanotechnology and mining engineering could redefine mine waste management globally. Instead of seeing wastewater as an unavoidable by-product of resource extraction, Australia has the opportunity to pioneer systems where water treatment itself becomes a source of clean water, critical minerals and long-term economic productivity. In doing so, the mining industry could move closer to a genuinely regenerative model – one where extracting resources from the earth no longer requires abandoning value in waste.

Image: MTE Founders Dr Annamaria De Rosa, Dr Samantha McGaughey and Associate Professor Caitlin Byrt

End notes

1. U.S. International Trade Administration. (n.d.). ‘Australia mining’. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/australia-mining.
2. Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA). (2024). ‘Alternative use of tailings and waste’. https://www.mriwa.wa.gov.au/minerals-research-advancing-western-australia/focus-areas/alternative-use-of-tailings-and-waste/.
3. Supervising Scientist Division. (n.d.). ‘Acid mine drainage in Australia: Its extent and potential future liability’. Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/supervising-scientist/publications/ssr/acid-mine-drainage-australia-its-extent-and-potential-future-liability.
4. Nascimento, S. C., Cooke, D. R., Townsend, A. T., Davidson, G., Parbhakar-Fox, A., Cracknell, M. J., & Miller, C. B. (2023). ‘Long-term impact of historical mining on water quality at Mount Lyell, Western Tasmania, Australia’. Mine Water and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-023-00943-5.
5. International Water Association. (2002). ‘Downstream flow event sampling of acid mine drainage’. Water Science and Technology, 45(11), 29–36. https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-abstract/45/11/29/8446/Downstream-flow-event-sampling-of-acid-mine.
6. McGaughey, D. (2025). ‘Conference paper on mining and environmental management’. Australian Centre for Geomechanics. https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/2515_104_McGaughey/.
7. Ghahramani, N., Adria, D. A. M., Rana, N. M., Llano-Serna, M., & Tyerman, S. D. (2023). ‘Molecular membrane separation: Plants inspire new technologies for sustainable water treatment’. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18762.
8. CSIRO. (n.d.). ‘Mine closure and transitions’. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/services/consultancy-strategic-advice-services/csiro-futures/mineral-resources/mine-closure-and-transitions.
9. Discovery Alert. (2026). ‘Water efficiency in mining operations’. https://discoveryalert.com.au/water-efficiency-mining-operations-2026/
10. Arsic, M., Byrt, C., De Rosa, A., Hilder, P., Iqbal, S., McGaughey, S., Nandala, S. P., O’Sullivan, C., Wu, X., & Xie, Z. (2024). ‘Biomimetic membrane technology developments relevant to sustainable reuse of resources’. Australian Water Association Water e-Journal. https://info.awa.asn.au/water-e-journal/biomimetic-membrane-technology-developments-relevant-to-sustainable-reuse-of-resources.
11. Future Materials Centre. (n.d.). ‘Frameworks and methods: Social’. https://futurematerialscentre.com/research/frameworks-methods-social/.