Nasdaq-, New York, listed company ASP Isotopes (ASPI), which has its head office in Washington, DC, but most of its operations in South Africa, has announced its intention, assuming the granting of the necessary regulatory approvals, to list on the Main Board of the JSE, later this year. ASPI is an isotope enrichment technology and processes development and manufacturing company that had its roots in South Africa.

“While our investor base has been created in the USA and Europe, the beating heart of our company is clearly currently in South Africa, with 97% of our employees and all our operating assets being located in South Africa,” explained ASPI chairperson and CEO Paul Mann. “We have to thank our South African staff, service providers and regulators for helping us to achieve all we have done over the last four years and therefore we owe it to South Africa to make our securities available to the local community.”

Since it was listed on the Nasdaq, the company had raised more than $100-million, to fund growth, including the establishment of three isotope production facilities in Pretoria. It serves the medical, semiconductor and nuclear energy sectors. It employs more than 150 people, of whom 97% were South Africans. Its staff included chemists, other scientists, and engineers, as well as operational and financial personnel; 97% of this workforce has PhDs and 41% has other advanced and higher degrees.

ASPI enriches naturally-occurring isotopes into higher concentration products, using proprietary technology. Its initial focus was on the commercial production of enriched Carbon-14 (C-14), Silicon-28 (Si-28), and Ytterbium-176 (Yb-176). The enrichment and production are done at its three Pretoria facilities, using two processes, designated Aerodynamic Separation and Quantum Enrichment.

The company has, at the moment, three business segments – Specialist isotope and related services; PET Labs Limited (PetLabs); and Quantum Leap Energy (QLE – Mann was also CEO of QLE).

Specialist isotope and related services enriches C-14, Si-28 and Yb-176 for commercial use. The client sectors include pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, semiconductors, quantum computing, and radiotherapeutics. The company plans to expand the range of enriched isotopes that it offers, using its current facilities and proprietary technology.

PetLabs is 51%-owned by ASPI. It is a radiopharmaceutical operations company which is focused on the production of fluorinated radioisotopes and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

QLE seeks to address opportunities in the huge nuclear energy sector, by applying the company’s quantum enrichment technology to uranium, to produce fuel for next-generation nuclear power plants. It will also produce fuel for small modular reactors.

“Demand for green energy is being driven by the need to double global electricity production by 2050 and Net Zero targets set across the world,” highlighted ASPI co-founder and COO Robert Ainscow. “For example, China plans to build more reactors in the next 15 years than have been built globally in the last 35 years. India plans to build ten new reactors, and Japan is targeting 20% [to] 22% of electricity to be generated from nuclear by 2030.”