Houston, July 21 (Argus) - Canadian rare earth recycling company Cyclic Materials has collaborated with US electronics recycling company ERI to develop the recovery of rare earths and other key minerals from electronic waste and establish a North American supply chain.
According to the agreement, ERI will utilize its national collection network and eight recycling centers to pre-treat and supply scrapped products containing rare earth magnets and other key materials for recycling and refining.
ERI recovers and refines high-purity rare earth oxides from magnet waste for new permanent magnets in automotive, defense, robotics, artificial intelligence, and other applications.
ERI processes over 1 million pounds of electronic waste daily. These companies have already begun sample analysis of products to determine their quality and identified several bulk categories.
The raw materials will mainly be used for the operations of Cyclic Company in Arizona, which can handle up to 25,000 tons/year of scrapped components. Cyclic will also recover other key materials, including copper and aluminum.
The two companies plan to jointly bid for and tender recycling projects, as well as other commercial and government contracts.
Cyclic has a partnership with German magnet producer Vacuumschmelze (Vac), and they have agreed to a 10-year agreement to recover neodymium-iron-boron waste from Vac's factory in Sumter, South Carolina.
