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A Canadian startup is getting ready to start processing rare earth elements. And they’re doing it in the United States of America.
What’s happening:
- Canadian rare earth processing company Cyclic Materials has announced a $20M USD investment into the development of their first global rare earth processing facility located in Mesa, Arizona
Why it matters:
- Rare earth processing has become a highly important theme in both Silicon Valley and Wall Street lately, which has been largely fuelled by China’s restrictions around rare earth exports as well as the White House beginning an official investigation into the risks of relying on foreign countries for rare earth elements
Going deeper:
- Cyclic Technologies’ new facility will be exclusively focused on separating permanent magnets that contain rare earth elements from end of life products such as electronic waste, wind turbines and electric vehicle motors using Cyclic Technologies proprietary MagCycle process to build out a circular supply chain of rare earth elements that does not rely on any foreign countries
- Cyclic Technologies has previously landed multiple notable backers, including strategic investments from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), BMW iVentures and Hitachi Ventures
The intrigue:
- Domestic sources of rare earth processing capabilities has also been making waves in the public markets lately, with American Resources (NASDAQ: AREC) just recently completing their Phase 2 expansion at their rare earth processing facility in Indiana and Energy Fuels (NYSE: UUUU) publicly stating they now have the technical capabilities to process six of the seven rare earth elements recently restricted by China
