EQTEC shares jumped on Wednesday after announcing a strategic expansion into critical and precious metals, complementing its core waste-to-energy gasification technology, as the company seeks earlier cash flow whilst its longer-term project pipeline matures.
Although the company calls the move ‘complementary’, it does mark a dramatic change in strategy. After a period of poor share price performance, it may be what the company needs to turn its fortunes around.
Investors seem to agree, and shares were 80% higher at the time of writing.
The clean energy technology provider, which converts waste and biomass into syngas, power and renewable fuels, will pursue capital-light resource assets targeting copper, gold, rare earth elements and specialty metals essential to global electrification and grid infrastructure.
The diversification comes as EQTEC anticipates several material gasification project wins in the near term, while maintaining confidence that a portfolio of commissioned reference plants will deliver scalable returns over time.
However, the company recognises that large-scale infrastructure projects require extended development timelines before reaching full commercial operation. This has long been a major concern for investors, leading to poor share price performance.
The strategic rationale centres on shared end markets, with both critical metals and gasification technology serving the renewable power, electrification and energy storage sectors. The company argues that this creates a coherent circular-economy positioning across complementary segments of the energy transition value chain.
EQTEC will prioritise opportunities that are cash generative or near-term production, capital-light at entry, situated in established lower-risk mining jurisdictions, and positioned for operational value uplift. The company confirmed it already has an active pipeline under evaluation, supported by recent leadership appointments with extractive industry backgrounds.