Blue Evolution has launched Orca Minerals, the first U.S.-based platform to mine critical minerals without traditional mining. Instead of blasting rock or disturbing the seabed, Orca uses cultivated seaweed and sunlight to harvest rare earth elements and critical minerals directly from seawater. This is photosynthetic mineral sourcing—a regenerative, decentralized alternative to typical extraction.

As the U.S. government scrambles to reduce its reliance on Chinese rare earth refining, Orca represents a new kind of industrial infrastructure: one that grows, regenerates and absorbs CO₂ rather than emitting it. The platform builds on a decade of seaweed cultivation and bioprocessing already in operation across Alaska and Mexico. It is backed by the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) and supported by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), UC Davis, Virginia Tech, and others.

Sea Technology interviewed CEO Beau Perry about the new platform.

Why does the U.S. need photosynthetic alternatives to secure mineral independence?

Because our current approach to mineral supply is hitting structural limits—geologically, ecologically, economically and politically. Even with domestic permitting reform, traditional mining faces a time-to-production horizon of seven to 15 years, and often involves significant environmental and social opposition.

Meanwhile, over 70 percent of global refining capacity for key minerals is concentrated in a handful of geopolitical jurisdictions—think of Chinese monopolistic strategy.

Photosynthetic mineral recovery—specifically through macroalgae—offers a decentralized, renewable and biologically governed alternative. Seaweed grows exponentially, requires no freshwater, fertilizers, or arable land, and can be deployed within U.S. coastal jurisdictions with lower permitting friction than terrestrial extractive projects. The U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone spans more than 4.3 million square miles—and remains largely underutilized for strategic biomaterial production.

Orca’s approach enables mineral production with no tailings, no blasting and no water contamination, aligning with national environmental goals while reducing reliance on politically constrained supply chains.

The seaweed-based approach can reach meaningful scale in three to five years. That timeline reflects the initial maturation of the Orca platform, including new supply chains and extraction technology—but it’s a one-time startup horizon. Beyond that, each new site scales much faster, with lower permitting friction and capital intensity. We’re building a system where critical minerals can be produced alongside other high-value seaweed co-products—faster, cleaner and closer to home.

What did the scientific team discover with PNNL that triggered the launch of Orca?

First, lab and fieldwork with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory confirmed that select seaweed strains, based on samples taken from our network of farming partners in Alaska circa 2018 to 2020, can bioaccumulate specific critical minerals—lithium, cobalt, magnesium—from seawater at concentrations above background levels, particularly in high-nutrient coastal zones and upwelling regions. The uptake appeared both element-specific and environmentally “tunable”—a key criterion for viable sourcing.

Second, process modeling and systems engineering work that have followed showed that this biological accumulation could be mapped to scalable, modular infrastructure—enabling tunable mineral recovery at the deployment level based on seawater chemistry and downstream market needs.

Combined, this made clear we were no longer in the realm of ecological curiosity or basic research. We had the basis for a new, infrastructure-light mineral supply model—one that uses biology to do the front-end separation traditionally done by mechanical or chemical processes.

This unlocks new economic pathways for distributed, lower-cost sourcing—especially in regulatory environments where industrial development faces increasing friction.

 

 

Your company emphasizes partnerships with indigenous communities and climate agencies. How did you build these into the business model?

They’re codified through two mechanisms: place-based operating models and integrated MRV (measurement, reporting, verification) frameworks.

Our farming systems are co-developed with indigenous and coastal partners, not just for access or inclusion, but because site governance and ecological alignment are central to regenerative operations, which are designed to last and be highly resilient in nature. We use a distributed infrastructure model—local deployment, local labor, local co-benefits—which avoids the centralized accumulation model of conventional extraction.

On the agency side, we’ve built our impact quantification in alignment with emerging MRV standards for blue carbon, nitrogen removal and biodiversity uplift. This allows us to plug into evolving carbon and ecosystem service markets, and positions Orca within regulatory frameworks, such as the Section 45Q federal tax credit for carbon removal, EPA nutrient trading programs, and NOAA coastal resilience initiatives.

By linking our performance to auditable environmental outcomes, we de-risk public and institutional partnerships and open up access to non-dilutive capital pools that will be critical for scaling.

What is your roadmap to economic viability?

It’s built on multi-revenue product stacking, modular deployment, and regulatory asymmetry.

The primary element of Blue Evolution’s biorefinery revenue stack is extraction of high-value compounds for human and veterinary health, green industrial biochemicals, plant biostimulants, and critical mineral recovery.

Secondary is biomass for fertilizer, feed, biopolymers and bioenergy.

Tertiary is environmental performance monetized via carbon markets and nutrient credit systems, et cetera.

The cost advantages are: no land acquisition or deep extraction, minimal permitting delays, OPEX linked to biological cycles and regional climate—not industrial throughput, and CAPEX efficiency through modular infrastructure and existing marine assets, such as shared offshore platforms.

In terms of regulatory arbitrage, Orca sidesteps most of the high-cost, high-friction permitting pathways that terrestrial mining requires. Our operations fall under marine aquaculture and coastal development frameworks, which are generally faster to permit, less contested, and increasingly supported by federal blue economy priorities.

In terms of MRV-enforced validation, because we measure carbon uptake, water quality impact, and ecosystem performance in real time, we can tokenize, credit, or directly contract those benefits to government buyers, insurers, or climate finance institutions. That’s economic resilience beyond commodity pricing.

We don’t rely on one mineral or one buyer. Our model is anti-monoculture, pro-resilience, and built to adapt and scale with shifting policy, climate, and market conditions.

Learn more here.