Li-Cycle sees battery metals output rising throughout decade

Toronto-based Li-Cycle Corp., which operates a lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Rochester, New York, says it is building a global footprint to become a “top global producer of lithium carbonate and key battery-grade materials.”

In a news release accompanying its second quarter 2023 financial results and in presentation slides for investors, Li-Cycle spells out its current and planned investments and production targets.

In addition to its Rochester facility, parts of which are still under construction, Li-Cycle says in its investor presentation it is building another, similar “hub” facility in Portovesme, Italy. It also operates or is building “spoke” facilities in Alabama, Arizona, Ontario, France, Germany and Norway.

The company says the goal for its Rochester hub is to produce up to 8,500 metric tons per year of lithium carbonate, up to 48,000 metric tons per year of nickel sulfate and up to 7,500 metric tons per year of cobalt sulfate. In Italy, it foresees reaching similar levels of production by early 2027.

At its spoke locations, Li-Cycle says it can assess inbound batteries for potential reuse applications while beginning the recycling process for others. That can entail a shredding process that produces recyclable plastic and metal (copper and aluminum) foils, plus black mass.

Li-Cycle describes black mass as an interim stage material that is “easily transportable relative to batteries” when shipped to the two hub locations, where the black mass will be further processed to produce the nickel, cobalt and lithium-bearing carbonate and sulfates.

In its second quarter 2023 results comments, Li-Cycle says it is in an “advanced construction” stage of the Rochester hub, having “successfully received and installed the largest piece of progress equipment on-site and predicting the “start of commissioning in late 2023.”

“During the second quarter, we made significant strides on our strategic objectives, growing and operationalizing our spoke and hub network,” says Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle president and CEO.

He continues, “In Europe, we successfully commenced processing battery materials at our Germany spoke, our first in Europe, which is expected to become the largest preprocessing facility in our global spoke network by the end of 2023. We are also progressing our co-development of the Portovesme hub with Glencore, with the definitive feasibility study on track for completion by mid-2024.”

Kochhar says Li-Cycle is positioning itself “to have total lithium carbonate production capacity of up to 25,000 metric tons per year, making Li-Cycle a top global and sustainable producer of lithium carbonate and key battery-grade materials.”

In this year’s second quarter, the company’s results point to Li-Cycle being in the development stage, as it experienced a net loss of $35 million in the three months ending June 30. The company lost a total of $74.7 lost in the first half of this year. However, Li-Cycle lists itself as having nearly $859 million in assets and about $429 million in liabilities.