As of this month, a modern metals company with an Erie connection, is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Chris Showalter, the Erie-based CEO of Lifezone Metals was excited to ring the bell as the company went public on July 6.

According to the CEO, Lifezone Metals is a both a technology company and a mining business.

First, we are a technology company where we have 140 global patents in what we call a hydro-metallurgical processing technology so we are able to process metals in a more clean way than is traditionally done," Showalter said.  "The second part of the business is a flagship mining asset in Tanzania called Kabanga Nickel, which is going to be the next biggest source of cobalt and nickel to come on line globally and that's going to feed the electric car batteries," he said.
 
 
Lifezone Metal's big idea is what they call "hydromet," a water-based chemical method of processing raw ore that comes out of the ground instead of the traditional heat treatment steps that involves big furnaces, smelters, smoke stacks and noxious emissions.
 
"We take a clean water-based, chemical based process that's the essence of the hydromet and we're able to process the metals that come into our plants in a much cleaner and efficient fashion. The result is a much lower co2 footprint which makes sense when those metals will be going into electric cars--Teslas, Fords, GM's--which are focused on that same goal," Showalter said.
 
Showalter believes consumers are going to demand a much cleaner product and that his company has the solution. "If the world is going to get serious about co2 targets and reductions, you have to clean up the mining processing and that's really what we're providing.  We're providing a solution to cleanup up the processing of the metals to get to these awesome electric vehicles that the world's going toward."
 
According to the Lifezone CEO, BHP the world's largest mining company recently invested $100 million into the company as part of a partnership.  And GoGreen merged with Lifezone making the public listing possible.
 
Showalter is hoping more investors come on board.  "The NYSE is the epicenter of the financial markets, the largest source of liquidity, so for us to be able to list on the New York stock exchange that gives us the deepest potential pool of investment to come in and support our initiatives," he added.
 
The company is listed as LZM.  After living in different places around the globe, Showalter now calls Erie home.  He was pleased to have Erie family and friends in New York to celebrate the company going public.
 
Showalter and his wife Ainsley Ryan Showalter, an Erie County native are raising their four children in Fairview.