Cyclic Materials expands leadership team

Cyclic Materials, a Toronto-based advanced metals recycling company with a focus on rare earth elements and critical metals, has appointed Kunal Phalpher as senior vice president of corporate development and Debra Palen as director of capital projects.

“I am excited to be transitioning from the advisory board to a full-time member of the team to provide more hands-on leadership in identifying areas of expansion and ultimately increase our opportunities to recycle rare earth elements across the globe,” Phalpher says. “I have had the opportunity to work with the team for the last several months and have been impressed with the progress they have made in developing innovative technology to solve an existing problem faced in the market. In my new role I hope to leverage this work to continue to develop the company toward a commercial scale.”

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“I look forward to leading the planning and executing the construction of Cyclic’s first commercial facilities for its Spoke and Hub processes,” Palen adds. “Cyclic has developed a unique and innovative solution to a growing problem in the energy transition space and being a part of the team that brings this solution the market is an exciting challenge.”

Cyclic’s Mag-Xtract (spoke) and Hydrometallurgical (hub) processes isolate and processes magnets from recycled end-of-life products.

According to Cyclic, Phalpher and Palen will collaborate to identify new markets, opportunities for strategic partnerships and grow Cyclic’s presence within the rare earth supply chain through the deployment of commercial facilities in multiple geographies. Cyclic is working to establish a circular economy for rare earth elements (REEs) to support the energy transition.

“Debra and Kunal bring diverse backgrounds and expertise that complement our existing team that will help us through our next phase of growth,” Cyclic CEO Ahmad Ghahreman says. “Expanding our leadership team is necessary at this time to address the growing need for REEs and bringing Cyclic’s recycling solution to scale in more areas of the world. Kunal and Debra are well-equipped to meet these growing demands and [help] us meet our strategic objectives.”

Cyclic has experienced growth in the critical metal sector over the last year, including its recent Series A funding by Energy Impact Partners and BMW i Ventures. As demand for REE recycling and the exploration of raw metal sources continues to grow, Cyclic says its business priorities are well-positioned to enhance its technology, supply chain scalability and foster pivotal collaborations.