Dive Brief:
- BlueOak Resources, a company that extracts precious metals from electronics, broke ground on its new $35 million refinery in Osceola, AR.
- The new facility will process e-waste, and extract gold, silver, copper and palladium from consumer electronics. The plant is expected to handle 15 million pounds of electronics annually.
- The refinery is expected to begin processing electronics in 2015, with the company already making plans for a rapid expansion.
Dive Insight:
BlueOak Resources, currently based in Burlingame, CA, was launched as a startup in Mountain View, CA in 2010 by Bryce Goodman and Privahini Bradoo. A chunk of the funding for the project is coming from the Arkansas Teachers' Retirement Fund and the Arkansas Development Finance Authority.