MiniMines, a Bengaluru-based battery recycling, chemical extraction and refining firm, is scaling up capacity to turn spent electric vehicle li-ion batteries into a reliable domestic source of critical minerals, amidst the headwinds India’s EV industry is facing from global supply shocks.
Driving the company’s aggressive revenue ambition is the construction of a new facility near Bengaluru, spanning 2.5 acres, significantly larger than the existing 1.5-acre unit. This new plant is scheduled for inauguration in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027. The expansion is projected to immediately push the company’s top line, doubling the current monthly revenue run rate to one million dollars (or approximately Rs 120 crore annualized, based on the established financial run-rate).
The company’s medium-term outlook is even more ambitious. Within the next two years, MiniMines is aiming to scale its business considerably, targeting annual revenues in the range of Rs 400 to Rs 600 crore. The long-term vision, projected five years out, scaled up expectations of generating approximately Rs 1,500 crore in recurring annual revenues.
Crucially, MiniMines plans to expand its total operational capacity to approximately 45,000 metric tons per annum by the end of 2028. Co-founder and CEO Anupam Kumar estimates that this capacity, sourced purely through recycling “will roughly solve 25 to 30% of India’s domestic demand for lithium and only through your recycling.”
MiniMines, which is also known as MiniMines Cleantech Solutions, on December 1 announced signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the department of Electronics, Information Technology and Biotechnology under the Government of Karnataka. Through this partnership with the Government of Karnataka, MiniMines aims to establish a Rs 350 crore Giga Critical Minerals Refining Complex in Bengaluru.
The first phase will have a refining capacity of 15,000 MTPA, generating 13.4 thousand tonnes of annual throughput. For every Rs 1 crore of MiniMines’ output, approximately Rs 3 crore worth of industrial value will be created downstream through various supply chains, the company noted in a statement.
MiniMines has received Rs 4.3 crore in grants from Oil India Corporation, UNIDO, and ACT Grants, and is also supported by Mercedes-Benz through its Climate Tech Incubator, Villgro. On the investment front, MiniMines is backed by marquee investors including Axilor Ventures, Beenext, and Shastra VC, in addition to backing from Pawan Munjal, Chairman of Hero MotoCorp, and Warmup Ventures.
MiniMines’ competitive advantage in the recycling ecosystem is rooted in its end-to-end processing capability. While many smaller players only engage in pre-processing; crushing batteries to extract ‘black mass’ (an intermediate material containing critical minerals) for trade or export, MiniMines performs the full refining cycle.
The firm employs a proprietary hybrid hydrometallurgy process (HHM). This sophisticated chemical route involves extracting metals in a liquid medium, selectively separating them, and concluding with intensive refining, known as beneficiation. This beneficiation stage ensures the final product is highly pure.
Kumar emphasized that the HHM process results in metal salts that are re-crystallized and made 99.9% pure for end-use. This high level of purity enables the materials to be utilized in high-specification sectors, including battery manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and high-temperature grease. Operating in the epicenter of new gigafactories near Bengaluru, MiniMines benefits from synergy, helping cell manufacturers dispose of manufacturing scrap while simultaneously supplying them with finished recovered products.
To ensure a reliable feedstock for its capacity expansion, MiniMines has prioritized establishing a robust reverse supply chain, specifically targeting spent electric mobility batteries from two-wheeler, three-wheeler, and four-wheeler Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The company currently moves five to six trucks of scrap monthly across the country to maintain control over its input materials.
Recognizing the increasing importance of securing a resilient domestic supply chain, MiniMines is broadening its research and development (R&D) footprint beyond lithium-ion battery recycling. Their R&D team is actively exploring new avenues for resource recovery. Among the latest initiatives is the extraction of Rare Earth Elements (REE) from permanent magnets. This move is designed to address the rising demand for REE in high-tech manufacturing and renewable energy sectors. In parallel, the team is also working on recovering platinum group metals (PGMs) from catalytic converters—components common in BS-4, BS-5, and BS-6 vehicles.