Rare Earth Exchanges

Jaguar Land Rover Invests in Rare Earth Magnet Recycling: How Far to Go for Sustainability?

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Highlights

  • Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures contributes $2 million to Cyclic Materials.
  • Cyclic Materials is a Canadian rare earth magnet recycling company.
  • The contribution is part of a $55 million Series B funding round.
  • Cyclic Materials aims to increase global rare earth element recycling rates.
  • Current recycling rates for rare earth elements are less than 1%.
  • Cyclic Materials utilizes innovative MagCycle and REEPure technologies.
  • The investment supports sustainable supply chains and technology development.
  • Critical materials are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines, and advanced technologies.

Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) investment arm, InMotion Ventures (opens in a new tab), has contributed $2 million to Cyclic Materials (opens in a new tab), a Canadian rare earth magnet recycling company, as part of the company’s Series B funding round. This latest investment brings the total funding for the round to $55 million, which includes backing from BMWi, Microsoft, and Hitachi.

Cyclic Materials specializes in recycling rare earth elements (REEs), such as neodymium, which are critical for electric vehicle (EV) motors, wind turbines, data centers, and other advanced technologies. With less than 1% of REEs currently recycled globally, Cyclic Materials aims to close the loop on REE supply chains through its proprietary MagCycle and REEPure technologies, which extract REEs from end-of-life products.

The investment will accelerate Cyclic Materials’ expansion in North America and Europe, enhance its processing capabilities, and further develop its recycling technologies. This aligns with JLR’s broader strategy of supporting sustainable supply chains and fostering innovation in battery and rare earth material recycling to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and products.

Issues and Oversights

While the investment signals a positive move toward sustainability, the article omits several critical considerations. For example, there is no discussion as to the commercialization timeline. Developing and scaling proprietary recycling technologies like MagCycle and REEPure can take years to become commercially viable. The company press release (opens in a new tab) does not address how long it might take for Cyclic Materials to significantly impact REE recycling rates or meet the automotive industry’s demand.

Regarding supply chain integration, the recycling process requires access to a consistent stream of end-of-life products, which depends on effective collection systems and collaboration with industries like automotive and electronics. How will Cyclic Materials plan to secure a steady feedstock of recyclable materials?

Other players in the recycling space and emerging mining projects for REEs could challenge Cyclic Materials’ market share. Moreover, the article does not address whether reliance on recycled REEs alone can meet the rapidly growing demand, which is projected to triple by 2030. Again, only 1% of REEs are derived from recycling today.

 While recycling reduces reliance on mining, it may still face regulatory hurdles or environmental concerns, such as waste byproducts from the recycling process. These potential issues are not explored in the report.

Rare Earth Exchanges Takeaway

Jaguar Land Rover’s investment in Cyclic Materials highlights its growing commitment to sustainable supply chains and reducing dependence on virgin REE mining. However, the company’s media entry avoids addressing key challenges, including the lengthy commercialization period, economic viability, and supply chain constraints, which could slow the scalability of REE recycling. Substantial advances in technology, infrastructure, and partnerships will be necessary to realize the full potential of recycled rare earths.

The Company

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials is a cleantech company creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials for supporting the clean energy transition. Through its innovative technology, the company economically, sustainably, and domestically transforms end-of-life products into valuable raw materials that are essential to the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and motors for the electronics we use in our daily lives. In 2023, Cyclic Materials commissioned a commercial demonstration facility for the first stage of its process to recover rare earth magnets from end-of-life materials using the proprietary process MagCycle℠.

In 2024, Cyclic Materials opened a second commercial demonstration facility for the second stage of its process in Kingston, Ontario,. The facility produces Mixed Rare Earth Oxide using its proprietary hydrometallurgical technology, REEPure℠. With the global market for magnets containing REEs forecasted to increase dramatically by 2030, establishing new sources of these critical materials is vital to supporting the electrification of the global economy. Cyclic Materials is scaling its technology across North America, Europe, and Asia.

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