What Scarab does

Scarab Chile SpA is a Santiago-based mining technology company founded in 2018 that operates a technology hub dedicated to reducing or eliminating waste from the mining industry by recovering valuable elements contained in mining tailings and other environmental liabilities. The company delivers an integrated three-step service stack: laboratory-based Characterization of mining waste samples to identify recoverable elements, Solution Development to research and build technologies that extract value from those residues, and Packaging of the resulting capability into technical, economic, and environmental implementation packages. Its most concrete productization to date is a Calcium Solutions technology, in which a pilot plant hosted at Cemento Polpaico S.A.'s Til Til facility processes tailings to produce calcium-based outputs. Underlying technical infrastructure includes a high-technology laboratory inaugurated in late 2018 and a pilot plant whose construction began in January 2019 in collaboration with engineering partner Innomet.

The business model is service- and technology-licensing oriented: Scarab packages its characterization know-how, R&D outputs, and process designs for industrial customers in Chile's mining sector, with Cemento Polpaico serving as the anchor industrial partner for the current pilot stage. The company has also established regulatory positioning through meetings with Chile's Ministry of Mining and the Ministry of Environment's Circular Economy Office, indicating an intent to align its offering with national policy on environmental liabilities. Capital structure consists of a single disclosed $3.5 million funding round led by Aurus Venture Capital in September 2018; the company is privately held, employs 1–10 people, and reports no recurring commercial revenue in the provided sources. The most recent dated corporate communication on the company website is from April 2019, leaving a gap in publicly visible activity since.

Note on entity disambiguation: the input data also contains information on an unrelated Dubai-based 'Scarab Coffee' entity in the UAE specialty coffee market; that business is not part of Scarab Chile SpA and is excluded from this analysis.

Name

Scarab

Legal name

Scarab Chile SpA

Website

https://scarab-tech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Scarab Chile SpA is a Santiago-based mining technology hub that characterizes mining waste, develops recovery technologies, and packages them into technical-economic-environmental solutions for Chilean mining customers, with a calcium-from-tailings pilot at Cemento Polpaico.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mining Waste Recovery Technology Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Metal Mining (213114), Support Activities for Mining (213)

SIC

Metal Mining (1000), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Tailings & Waste Management (Thickened Tailings, Dry Stack, Paste, TSF Operations) (IMAKALAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Tailings & Water Management Engineering (TSF Design/Construction, Dams, Water Treatment) (IMAKAOAF), Hazardous Waste Recycling & Recovery (Solvent Recovery, Oil Re-refining, Metals Recovery) (EUAIAFAI)

Keywords

• Mining waste recovery
• Tailings reprocessing
• Calcium solutions
• Mining environmental liabilities
• Mineral recovery technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Santiago

HQ country

Chile

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Roast as a Service: The company operates a 'Roast as a Service' model enabling cafés to launch branded coffee lines for under AED 1 million. This infrastructure-as-a-service approach provides end-to-end coffee roasting capabilities to café partners, likely combining infrastructure fees with per-unit or subscription-based revenue components.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Scarab provides integrated technology services to the mining industry, focused on reducing or eliminating waste through recovery of valuable elements from mining residuals. Its three core offerings are Characterization (laboratory analysis identifying valuable elements in mining waste), Solution Development (R&D creating technologies that generate economic value from mining waste), and Packaging (preparing technical, economic, and environmental implementation packages). The flagship developed technology is Calcium Solutions, which processes mining tailings to produce calcium-based products, validated through a pilot plant at Cemento Polpaico S.A. in Til Til, Chile.

Product overview

Scarab Chile SpA operates as a technology hub focused on sustainable mining waste management. The company offers an integrated service portfolio comprising three core offerings: Characterization (laboratory analysis of waste samples to identify valuable elements), Solution Development (R&D to create value-generating technologies), and Packaging (preparing comprehensive implementation packages). Their primary technology focus is Calcium Solutions, which processes mining tailings to produce calcium-based products. Operations include a high-technology laboratory and a pilot plant in Polpaico in partnership with Cemento Polpaico S.A. The company also collaborates with Innomet on plant design and construction.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Characterization (Caracterización) Laboratory analysis service that identifies valuable elements contained in mining waste, enabling assessment of residual materials for potential recovery and value extraction. Targeted at mining operators and industrial waste producers.
• Solution Development (Desarrollo de Soluciones) Research and development service that creates and discovers technologies capable of generating economic value from mining industry waste materials.
• Packaging (Empaquetamiento) Preparation of a comprehensive technical, economic, and environmental implementation package that structures the best deployment approach for Scarab-developed mining waste technologies.
• Calcium Solutions (Soluciones de Calcio) Technology solution that processes mining tailings to produce calcium-based products (calcium solutions/oxide). Developed and validated at pilot scale through the Polpaico pilot plant operated with Cemento Polpaico S.A.
• Polpaico Pilot Plant (Planta Piloto Polpaico) Pilot plant at the Cemento Polpaico S.A. facility in Til Til, Chile, designed to process mining tailings and produce calcium solutions as part of the Calcium Solutions technology validation.
• High-Technology Laboratory (Laboratorio de Alta Tecnología) In-house high-technology laboratory constructed to analyze mining waste samples and develop new technologies for recovering valuable elements from mining tailings.

Quantifiable outcome

• Launch branded coffee lines for under AED 1 million (significantly below traditional capital requirements)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Phoenix Tailings: US-based mining tech company developing zero-waste production of critical minerals and metals from mining waste and tailings. Directly comparable to Scarab's mission of recovering valuable elements from mining waste using novel technology.
• Cyclic Materials: Canada-based company recovering rare earth elements and other critical materials from end-of-life products and mining waste. Closely aligned with Scarab's tailings characterization and element-recovery focus.
• EnviroGold Global: Mining tech company applying proprietary processes to recover metals (including gold and silver) from mining waste and tailings. Comparable technology stack and tailings-recovery business model to Scarab.
• Mineworx Technologies: Junior mining and cleantech company focused on processing tailings and mineral waste using proprietary separation technologies. Direct overlap with Scarab's tailings-processing value proposition.
• Dundee Sustainable Technologies: Canadian company developing hydrometallurgical processes to recover base and precious metals from mining waste and tailings. Closely comparable technology platform and mining-waste recovery focus.

Emerging players

• Innomet: Named Scarab partner for plant design and construction. Adjacent engineering / EPC player in mining waste processing infrastructure, comparable as a technology and design services counterpart in Chile.

Broad incumbents

• Rio Tinto (Kennecott / Nuton): Global diversified miner with active tailings valorization and waste-to-value programs (including hydrometallurgical ventures). Represents the large-incumbent path Scarab's technology could compete against or be acquired by.
• Anglo American: Global mining major with explicit tailings-management and circular-mining initiatives, including Future of Mining program. Comparable as a potential customer, partner, or competitive incumbent in mining waste valorization.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Scarab