For Cyclic, the deal adds to partnerships with Solvay, Vattenfall AB, Synetiq Ltd. and Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. while Glencore said the deal will broaden its access to recycled materials.Reuters
Cyclic Materials Inc., a Toronto-based metals recycling company, has struck a multiyear deal with Glencore PLC GLCNF to supply the global miner with copper extracted from electronic scrap.
Under the agreement, Swiss-based Glencore will take recycled copper from Cyclic’s operations and process it into copper cathode at its Horne Smelter and Canadian Copper Refinery in Quebec, the companies said on Wednesday. The cathode will be used in new products. No dollar figure was given.
Founded in 2021, Cyclic has developed technology to extract rare earth elements and other critical materials from waste electronics as an alternative to energy- and carbon-intensive mining operations. The materials, collected and extracted at its hub-and-spoke plants, can be used in a host of new products, including those used in renewable energy, electric vehicles and others tied to the energy transition.
For Cyclic, the deal adds to partnerships with Belgium-based Solvay, Sweden’s Vattenfall AB, Britain-based Synetiq Ltd. and Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. of Germany.
“We’re eager to further partner with Glencore and expand our offtake agreements for the primary materials we will recover, prior to ramping up our operations to global commercial scale, opening new facilities in the U.S. and in Europe to better serve our partners where they are,” Ahmad Ghahreman, chief executive officer of Cyclic, said in a statement.
The deal with Glencore follows a US$53-million, series B funding round in September, with proceeds earmarked for accelerating Cyclic’s expansion. The round was led by ArcTern Ventures and included BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund, Hitachi Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners, Climate Investment and Microsoft Corp.’s Climate Innovation Fund.
Previous funders, Fifth Wall, BMW i Ventures, Energy Impact Partners and Planetary Technologies also participated.
Glencore said the deal with Cyclic will broaden its access to recycled materials. The company already gets copper extracted from electric motors and other metals from batteries.
“We see Cyclic Materials filling a critical gap in the market with their focus on rare earth recovery, a much-needed solution to further drive sustainability in critical materials,” Kunal Sinha, global head of recycling at Glencore, said in the statement.
Glencore also has a supply deal with Toronto-based Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., which has struggled in its efforts to build facilities using its technology to extract lithium, nickel and cobalt from old batteries. Glencore has also provided Li-Cycle with US$275-million in financing.