RecycLiCo helps found critical mineral group

Lithium-ion battery recycler RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc., Surrey, British Columbia, has joined Newark, California-based electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group Inc. and other industry firms as a founding member of the Minerals for National Automotive Competitiveness Collaboration (MINAC), a partnership focused on accelerating the development and procurement of American-sourced critical minerals for use in automotive manufacturing by domestic automakers and Tier 1 suppliers.

Other MINAC members include Alaska Energy Metals, which currently is working on a project to mine Nickel in the state, natural and synthetic graphite producer Graphite One Inc. and manganese producer Electric Metals USA Ltd. The companies say they will work together to:

• advance domestic mineral production through the completion of offtake agreements for American critical minerals for use in American vehicles;
• identify and resolve barriers and accelerate commercialization and customer adoption; and
• improve coordination between the mining and automotive sectors.

According to RecycLiCo, the partnership recognizes the company’s hydrometallurgical process to recover high-purity, battery-ready materials from newly mined domestic ore, manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries and its potential contribution to onshore sourcing of essential materials and the establishment of a circular supply chain.

“The historic realignment of the global trading environment, together with governmental initiatives fostering reliance on domestic sources, has highlighted the need for the efficient recovery and refinement of critical minerals,” RecycLiCo CEO Richard Sadowsky says. “This collaboration with Lucid and our other MINAC partners is a direct response to that need and will help us to validate and scale our technology and work closely with industry leaders.”