Nth Cycle signs $1.1B battery metals deal with Trafigura
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- Nth Cycle signed a 10-year, ~$1.1B agreement with Trafigura to supply refined battery metals, announced at the first Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum in Tokyo and described as the largest recycled battery metals refining deal of its kind.
- Trafigura will purchase 2,000 tonnes of contained nickel in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) and 1,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate, refined from 12,000 tonnes of shredded battery 'black mass.'
- Nth Cycle is planning new refining hubs in South Carolina (codenamed Project SHIELD) and the Netherlands, installing its modular Oyster electro-extraction system at existing facilities, with site selection wrapping up this year and operations targeted to begin in 2028.
- The Oyster system is designed to cut refinery build times from more than five years to under two and reduce capital costs by up to 70%, according to the company — a pitch aimed at the billions in upfront investment that have stalled traditional Western battery metal refining.
- The Netherlands project is backed by a €7.5 million grant from the Dutch National Growth Fund under the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Lion initiative, fitting into the EU's push for circular battery supply chains.
- Megan O'Connor, Nth Cycle's cofounder and CEO, said there is an 'urgent need' to build black mass refining capacity, particularly in the US, where securing domestic critical mineral processing is 'increasingly central to energy and industrial policy.'
Why it matters: The deal takes Nth Cycle from a single Ohio facility commercialized in 2024 to a transatlantic refining network by 2028, using a modular system designed to undercut the billion-dollar capital and multi-year permitting timelines that have throttled Western battery metals processing. For Trafigura, it locks in 3,500 tonnes of recycled nickel and lithium carbonate feedstock outside the China-centered black mass trade that the EU has begun restricting.
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