According to the company, the Arizona site can process up to 25,000 metric tons of magnet-bearing end-of-life products annually.
Canadian rare earth recycler Cyclic Materials opened a new facility in Mesa, Arizona, on Wednesday. The site will use automated processes to recover rare earth magnets from end-of-life products such as electric motors, hard disk drives, and wind turbine generators. According to the company, it is the first U.S. facility of its kind operating at commercial scale. The startup has secured Canadian government support to scale its recycling technology.
The Mesa plant can mechanically process up to 25,000 metric tons of magnet-bearing end-of-life products annually, the company said. The process produces Mag-Xtract, a concentrate of rare earth magnet material that can be reintegrated into the value chain following further processing. According to Cyclic, the operation also recovers copper, aluminum, and steel. The first deliveries to U.S. customers are expected later in September.
Cyclic is working with Canadian company Ucore Rare Metals, among others, to establish rare earth supply chains outside market leader China. It is also pursuing partnerships with European players such as Solvay and with companies active in Europe, including Neo Performance Materials. Against a backdrop of growing raw material demand and geographically concentrated production, rare earth recycling is becoming increasingly important for security of supply.
More on Recycling: The sector’s current opportunities and challenges were discussed at the E-Waste World Conference & Expo trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany.
Photo: Yuliyan Velchev via Canva
