Canada-based rare earths recycler opens first plant in Kingston, Ontario.

In the realm of advanced recycling, Cyclic Materials Inc. announced the opening of its Hub100 rare earths and critical metals recycling plant in Kingston, Ontario, the first scaled-up version of its proprietary REEPure hydrometallurgical technology.

"The opening of Hub100 marks a significant milestone in our company's journey," said Cyclic Materials CEO Ahmad Ghahreman. "This successful scaling up of our technology emphasizes our commitment to growth and signifies our pursuit of innovation."

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials has been endeavoring to be one of the first movers in rare earths and critical metals recycling in North America – toward its greater mission of creating a circular supply chain for the electrification and energy transition.

"The operation of this plant will allow us to continue learning and filling design criteria for full commercial scale of our REEPure technology, while producing revenue-generating products. This is a crucial step toward building a domestic supply chain of rMREO (recycled mixed rare earth oxides) in North America and growing our network of facilities to collect and recycle products containing rare earth magnets."

In 2022, Cyclic Materials completed an initial proof-of-concept of Mag-Xtract, a proprietary technology that isolates magnets from recycled end-of-life products. Early testing saw 4,000 kilograms of magnet-containing products. In addition to rare earths, the recovered products contain copper, aluminum, and steel that can be recycled back into electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones and other technologies.

Ramping up its technology from around 10 metric tons per year, Cyclic began its pilot demonstration in late 2023, aiming for a designed capacity of approximately 1,000 kg/hour, or roughly 8,000 metric tons per year.

"The launch of our pilot plant is a major step forward for developing a domestic, circular supply chain for critical materials at the scale needed to support the clean energy transition and technological innovation," said Ghahreman. "Our magnet-agnostic recycling technology produces one of the cleanest and highest quality mixed rare earth oxide products available on the global market-an environmentally sustainable, first-of-its-kind solution to the limited international supply of critical magnet materials."

With the launch of its Hub100, the company aims to recycle approximately 100 metric tons of magnetic material per year, producing rMREO that can be reused in the rare earth magnet supply chain, as well as nickel and cobalt hydroxides.

Cyclic Materials plans to deploy facilities across North America to position the company to help fulfill the ever-increasing demand for domestic sources of MREO while shifting reliance from China for these materials.

"It is exciting for us to see Cyclic Materials continuing its growth in Kingston," said Abdul Razak Jendi, investment manager, sustainable manufacturing at the Kingston Economic Development Corporation. "The technology, expertise and vision are a testament to the ecosystem Kingston has been nurturing over the years. Kingston continues to prove itself on the domestic and global fronts as a cleantech center for technology development and commercialization."