Back in 2021, we published an in-depth interview with Megan O’Connor, the founder and CEO of Nth Cycle, a company that developed a way to recover production-grade critical minerals from separated electronic waste and low-grade mine tailings. Five years later, the company’s electroextraction technology seems to be working out, as the company has signed a binding 10-year offtake agreement with commodities group Trafigura valued at approximately $1.1 billion.
Under the agreement, Trafigura will purchase 2,000 tonnes of contained nickel in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) and 1,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate, which will be refined from 12,000 tonnes of black mass.
Building on its successful 2024 commercialization in Fairfield, Ohio, Nth Cycle plans to establish new operations in South Carolina and the Netherlands to support production, installing its Oyster system at existing facilities in both locations. Site selection will be completed this year, and operations are scheduled to begin in 2028.
Nth Cycle’s business model is based on local refining. “Traditional metal refineries assume the risk of large, fixed volumes, [face] lengthy permitting timelines, and require billions in upfront investment and full capacity utilization to operate profitably,” the company explains. “In comparison, the Oyster’s modular, compact design deploys virtually anywhere, reduces build time from five or more years to under two, [reduces] capital intensity by up to 70%, and produces competitive margins at 5-10 times smaller scale.”
“There is an urgent need to build capacity for black mass refining and develop more diversified and robust supply chains—particularly in the US, where securing domestic critical mineral processing capabilities is increasingly central to energy and industrial policy,” said Megan O’Connor.
“The combination of Nth Cycle’s innovative refining technology and our global reach, scale and logistics network positions us to connect these vital resources with customers around the world,” said Daniel von Arx, Global Head of Battery Metals at Trafigura.
Source: Nth Cycle
