Rare earth magnet recycler Cyclic Materials opened its first commercial-scale facility right on schedule, bringing 100 annual tons of recycling capacity to the market to prove its technology works at scale.
The Ontario-headquartered company opened in 2021 and started testing its two technologies, a magnet removal process called Mag-Xtract and a hydrometallurgical process called REEPure, in 2022. The company focuses on hard drives and a variety of other magnet-containing products, turning the used magnets into mixed rare earth oxides for reuse.
In January, Ahmad Ghahreman, CEO of Cyclic Materials, told E-Scrap News the commercial demonstration plant for the hydrometallurgical process would come online in the second quarter of 2024. The Hub100 plant that opened June 6 in Kingston, Ontario, is therefore right on track.
He also said there are plans to develop five or six Mag-Xtract facilities in the U.S. and Canada, to feed the magnets into a future hub where the hydrometallurgical process will take place.
In a press release, Ghahreman called the opening of Hub100 “a significant milestone.”
“This successful scaling up of our technology emphasizes our commitment to growth and signifies our pursuit of innovation,” he added. “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.”
