NVRO Metals Limited says it has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Hecla Greens Creek Mining Company, a subsidiary of Hecla Mining Company, focused on establishing the technical and commercial framework for a proposed industrial-scale processing campaign of approximately 35,000 t of Hecla tailings for feedstock to be processed at the NVRO Metals Hub using the NVRO Process™.

The company announced the proposed acquisition of the assets comprising the Metals Hub on June 10, 2026, and completion of that acquisition remains subject to conditions but is expected to close in August 2026.

The NVRO Process is a patented, metal-agnostic hydrometallurgical technology designed to recover valuable critical and precious metals from hazardous mine tailings and smelter by-products, the company says. Hecla’s Greens Creek underground operation is in Alaska and produced 8.7 Moz of silver and 59,349 oz of gold last year.

The MoU represents an important milestone in the commercialisation of the NVRO Process as an industrial-scale mineral processing technology and establishes a potential pathway toward industrial-scale demonstration of the technology using customer feedstock, NVRO Metals says. The successful completion of the campaign would represent a further step toward Technology Readiness Level 9 (TRL9) for the NVRO Process.

Management believes the MoU also provides an early opportunity to demonstrate the role the NVRO Metals Hub is intended to play within the company’s broader critical minerals supply chain strategy. The NVRO Metals Hub is being developed as a centralised critical minerals processing platform capable of supporting industrial-scale third-party processing opportunities using the NVRO Process.

The agreement is non-binding and remains conditional upon successful completion, to Hecla’s satisfaction, of the company’s current production demonstration campaign on the previously announced 20 t of Hecla feedstock at the company’s Perth, Western Australia facility. A further condition is the completion of the company’s acquisition and commissioning of the NVRO Metals Hub. These conditions are required to be satisfied on or before December 30, 2026, unless otherwise agreed between the parties.

Grant Freeman, CEO of NVRO Metals Limited, said: “We are honoured to continue working with Hecla Greens Creek Mining. This MoU establishes a pathway toward industrial-scale deployment of the NVRO Process using customer feedstock and represents an important step in the commercialisation of our technology and the important role that the NVRO Metals Hub can play as a centralised critical minerals processing platform.”