SFIO CRACHO | stock.adobe.com
CoTec Holdings Corp. and Mkango Resources Ltd. have announced a feedstock supply and preprocessing site share agreement between their joint venture, HyProMag USA LLC and global electronics recycler Intelligent Lifecycle Solutions LLC (ILS).
Under the agreement, ILS will secure and store neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) feedstock from hard disk drives (HDDs) and other sources for HyProMag at the ILS preprocessing sites in Willison, South Carolina, and Reno, Nevada, in advance of the commissioning of HyProMag’s rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing plant, which will be located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas.
“We are very excited to partner with ILS to grow the feed supply market in the United States and this collaboration is a first step in securing reliable long-term feed supply for HyProMag USA to sustain the project as we advance towards construction,” CoTec CEO Julian Treger says. “We believe that over time we will be able to build sufficient feedstock to sustain several magnet recycling and manufacturing hubs as the company establishes itself as a key player in the U.S. REE magnet industry.”
According to CoTec, ILS will use the Inserma Anoia SL HDD magnet separation system at its preprocessing sites, adding that an exclusive agreement was signed between the HyProMag Group and Spain-based Inserma in September 2024, and the Inserma technology is being rolled out across multiple jurisdictions. CoTec says the improved Inserma units provide fast, efficient magnet separation from HDDs for the hydrogen-based processing of magnet scrap with clean separation of the printed circuit board for resale to third parties.
CoTec says HyProMag is targeting HDD recycling geared to the growth of hyperscale data centers, which the company says it expects to accelerate significantly in the coming years. HyProMag will include the ILS preprocessing sites in its detailed design and engineering, and CoTec says those sites will be able to source multiple feed types to provide supply feed to the project’s magnet recycling and manufacturing hub in Dallas-Fort Worth. Other NdFeB feedstock sources HyProMag says it has successfully processed include rotors from electric motors, wind turbine magnets, speaker assemblies and MRIs.
CoTec says the supply agreement is expected to be the first of several entered into by HyProMag as the project advances to construction and commissioning.
Headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, ILS is a full-service IT asset disposition (ITAD), electronics recycling and scrap purchasing company and is fully complianet in ISO 14001:2015, ISO 45001:2018 and is recognized as an R2v3 recycler at its U.S. locations. CoTec says that through ILS, HyProMag will provide full traceability on its products to support the “closed loop” circular economy and critical mineral supply chains within the U.S.
“We are delighted to be formalizing our longstanding partnership with HyProMag,” says ILS CEO Graham Davy. “Lifecycle Solutions will be using our infrastructure to procure nationally rare earth material from government, manufacturing and businesses as well as other recycling sources. Our clients value HyProMag’s short-loop, low-carbon solution whilst retaining critical materials within the U.S. Lifecycle Solutions will use its R2 accredited facilities in South Carolina, Nevada to acquire and preprocess rare earth material for HyProMag USA. Magnets recovered from its subsidiary hard disk drive business will also be supplied.”
HyProMag is 100 percent owned by Canada-based Maginito Ltd., which is owned by both Calgary, Alberta-based mining company Mkango and London-based CoTec. CoTec and Maginito share 50-50 ownership of HyProMag USA.