Cyclic Materials, an advanced metals recycling company building a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical metals, today announced the signing of a multi-year offtake agreement with Glencore, a global natural resources company, for the supply of copper produced at its Spoke operations. The strategic partnership aims to advance sustainable practices in the rare earths industry and drive copper circularity while addressing the growing demand for securing recycled materials central to the energy transition.

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Cyclic Materials will provide Glencore with high-quality copper extracted and processed from electric motors that will be reutilized in new end-products. This strategic partnership is driving copper circularity and creating sustainable supply chains for the materials required for the energy transition. (Photo: Business Wire)

Under the terms of the agreement, Cyclic Materials will provide high-quality copper, which is extracted and processed from recycled electronic scrap. Glencore will further process and refine this copper at the Horne Smelter and Canadian Copper Refinery (CCR) into copper cathode that can be reutilized in new end-products. Copper is just one of the eight critical materials used in many technologies related to electrification and the energy transition due to its natural conductivity, as defined by the United States Department of Energy. This collaboration aligns with both companies' commitment to reducing environmental impact and waste through promoting responsible use of all available resources.

“We share Cyclic Materials’ vision to create a circular supply chain for the materials required for the energy transition,” said Kunal Sinha, global head of recycling at Glencore. “Adding Cyclic Materials as a partner broadens the scope of our recycling activities in this field as we will now receive copper materials from electric motors, in addition to other metals we already recycle such as battery materials. 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.”

This partnership marks a significant effort in transforming the global approach to recycling critical materials and maximizing supply chain resilience, providing a sustainable local alternative. Recycling and reusing valuable materials like copper, as opposed to discarding the hidden sources of the material in electronic waste and industrial byproducts, helps to offset the footprint of resource extraction.

"We are excited to be partnering with Glencore on the recycling of copper materials. This is a significant milestone in establishing key partners to purchase our recycled materials and close the loop for all critical materials we will produce,” said Ahmad Ghahreman, co-founder and CEO of Cyclic Materials. “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 US and in Europe to better serve our partners where they are.”

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials’ proprietary technologies are capable of economically and sustainably recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, MRI machines, and data center electronic scrap. Over the past year, the company forged strategic partnerships with key industry leaders such as Solvay, Vattenfall, Synetiq, and VACUUMSCHMELZE to recycle magnets containing REEs and establish a circular supply chain. The company recently announced its oversubscribed USD $53M Series B equity round to expand its global operations.

About Cyclic Materials

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials is a cleantech company creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials for supporting the clean energy transition. Through its innovative technology, the company economically, sustainably, and domestically transforms end-of-life products into valuable raw materials that are essential to the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and motors for the electronics we use in our daily lives. In 2023, Cyclic Materials commissioned a commercial demonstration facility of the first stage of its process, to recover rare earth magnets from end-of-life materials using the proprietary process, MagCycle℠. In 2024, Cyclic Materials opened a second commercial demonstration facility, for the second stage of its process, in Kingston, Ontario where Mixed Rare Earth Oxide is produced using its proprietary hydrometallurgical technology, REEPure℠. With the global market for magnets containing REEs forecasted to increase dramatically by 2030, establishing new sources of these critical materials is vital to support the electrification of the global economy. Cyclic Materials is scaling its technology across North America, Europe, and Asia. To learn more, visit cyclicmaterials.earth.

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