Evolution Metals eyes Nasdaq listing

Evolution Metals & Technologies Corp. (EM&T) has adopted that name after completing a merger between Welsbach Technology Metals Acquisition Corp. and Evolution Metals LLC.

The West Palm Beach, Florida-based company, which plans to recover battery and magnet materials through a closed-loop recycling model, expects to begin trading shares on the Nasdaq Global Markets exchange this week with the ticker symbol EMAT.

EM&T's predecessor companies have been manufacturing rare earth magnets and magnet materials on a commercial scale for more than 18 years through operating subsidiaries and selling these products to OEMs.

The merger means EM&T now has a portfolio of operating businesses in South Korea that have been manufacturing and selling rare earth magnets to global OEM customers, including Ford, Hyundai and Samsung, since 2007, according to the firm.

As a result, EM&T says it is the only company outside of China with "proven, real-world operational expertise" to produce rare earth magnets, including high-performance magnets, at large commercial scale in the United States.

“This business combination between WTMA and EM brings together a carefully structured roll-up of operating companies with proven commercial-scale operations,” says David Wilcox, executive board chair of EM&T. “By combining these operating companies in a public company structure, we are delivering a U.S.-based platform that will be a credible alternative, at large commercial scale, to China’s dominance in rare earth magnets and critical materials.”

In parallel with its rare earth magnet strategy, EM&T plans to develop industrial-scale midstream processing capacity in the United States to support a targeted annual production capacity of up to 55,000 tons of rare earth magnets by 2028.

“This business combination brings together operating businesses that have been producing and selling rare earth magnets to notable commercial customers for well over a decade," EM&T CEO Frank Moon says. "Our focus now is to replicate and scale those capabilities in the U.S. using proven technology and world class execution.”

The planned capacity is expected to be supported by a multi-feedstock processing platform that integrates both hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical technologies and is designed to support battery materials production alongside rare earth magnet materials on the same industrial campus.

At that planned location, EM&T intends to develop battery recycling operations that process spent lithium-ion batteries sourced from third-party suppliers and manufacturers into black mass.

Through its integrated hydro- and pyrometallurgical processing, EM&T expects to convert the black mass and other third-party sourced materials into battery grade carbonates, sulphates and precursor cathode active materials (pCAM) required to manufacture rare earth magnets and batteries.

By combining battery recycling, multi-feedstock processing and downstream materials production within a single integrated midstream platform, EM&T’s closed-loop model is intended to improve material recovery, enhance process flexibility, and support scalable commercial scale production across both battery materials and rare earth magnet value chains, the firm says.

EM&T has entered into technology license and cooperation agreements with the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), and plans to integrate the KIGAM technologies with its existing commercial technologies and intellectual property.

“Collectively, the team has designed, built and operated facilities across the entire rare earth supply chain over the past four decades, providing EM&T with the technical depth needed to scale complex, large commercial scale operations,” the company says.