Amid rising demand for dwelling battery recycling choices, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has secured a landmark $475 million mortgage from the U.S. Division of Vitality to advance the occasion of its Rochester Hub enterprise, a facility poised to become North America’s first commercial-scale hydrometallurgical battery provides restoration center.
Over the last few years, Li-Cycle has emerged as a frontrunner in lithium-ion battery recycling, leveraging its trendy spoke-and-hub model to recuperate important provides like lithium, nickel, and cobalt from end-of-life batteries.
This two-step system ensures battery provides are processed regionally at distributed spoke providers sooner than being despatched to centralized hubs for refining, making a sustainable and spherical present chain tailored to satisfy the rising requires of the clear vitality transition.
With this model, Li-Cycle has steadily constructed a neighborhood of spoke providers all through North America and Europe, reaching a processing functionality of over 50,000 metric tons of lithium-ion battery supplies yearly.
This progress consists of the establishment of providers in Ontario, New York, Arizona, and Alabama, along with the launch of its first European spoke in Germany, one in every of many largest providers of its kind on the continent.
Furthermore, a partnership with Glencore has propelled plans for a severe recycling hub in Portovesme, Italy, whereas Li-Cycle’s collaboration with KION Group, Europe’s largest industrial truck producer, is advancing the occasion of a model new facility in France.
These infrastructure developments have been bolstered by important financial backing. Beginning with a $200 million funding from Glencore in 2022, securing a reliable feedstock present, establishing long-term offtake agreements, and providing a robust foundation for Li-Cycle’s daring progress method.
This partnership deepened further with an additional $75 million funding from Glencore in 2024, aimed towards enhancing the company’s liquidity and operational resilience.
Within the meantime, a $375 million conditional dedication from the U.S. Division of Vitality has been upsized to a finalized $475 million mortgage settlement, marking a severe milestone in federal help for sustainable battery recycling.
Collectively, these investments underscore rising confidence in Li-Cycle’s capability to satisfy the rising demand for important battery provides whereas advancing its imaginative and prescient of a spherical and sustainable present chain on a worldwide scale.
This mortgage from the U.S. Division of Vitality’s Superior Know-how Cars Manufacturing program represents a pivotal enchancment for Li-Cycle. Not solely does it current important financial help for the Rochester Hub enterprise, nevertheless it moreover marks the first DOE mortgage to once more a lithium-ion battery recycling agency – a milestone that underscores the importance of Li-Cycle’s operate throughout the dwelling battery provides present chain.
“All by way of 2024, thought of one in every of Li-Cycle’s main targets has been to finalize negotiations with the DOE in order to enter into definitive documentation to amass a DOE mortgage,” acknowledged Li-Cycle President and CEO Ajay Kochhar. “Proper this second, we’re excited to announce our achievement of this important milestone, which we think about represents a strong vote of confidence in Li-Cycle’s patented and environmentally nice recycling know-how and enterprise model. Securing the DOE Mortgage Facility by the use of our shut collaboration with the DOE is a crucial step in the direction of our goal of restarting constructing on the Rochester Hub enterprise.”
Li-Cycle Holdings Corp.
The Rochester Hub will seemingly have the ability to processing as a lot as 35,000 metric tons of black mass yearly, producing roughly 8,250 metric tons of lithium carbonate and 72,000 metric tons of blended hydroxide precipitate to help the rising demand for important battery provides.
The mortgage arrives at a significant juncture, following earlier setbacks throughout the Rochester Hub’s enchancment, along with escalating costs that just about doubled preliminary estimates and prompted a pause in constructing in late 2023.
Designed to course of as a lot as 35,000 metric tons of black mass yearly, the Rochester Hub could be anticipated to provide roughly 8,250 metric tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate and as a lot as 72,000 metric tons of blended hydroxide precipitate – a mixture of nickel, cobalt, and manganese important for next-generation batteries.
The facility could be anticipated to create 825 constructing jobs at its peak and better than 200 eternal roles as quickly as operational, further cementing its significance as a cornerstone of North America’s clear vitality transition.
In step with Li-Cycle, the mortgage phrases embody a 15-year maturity with favorable charges of curiosity fixed at long-dated U.S. Treasury prices. The settlement permits for capitalized curiosity in the middle of the constructing interval and a grace interval on principal repayments until mid-2027, providing the financial flexibility wished to verify the enterprise’s effectively timed completion.
“We think about that the DOE Mortgage Facility provides attractive phrases relative to completely different third-party financing choices on the market to us,” acknowledged Kochhar. “We think about it’ll moreover enhance our financial flexibility and help our mission to create a sustainable, closed-loop battery present chain, which is necessary to the electrification transition and securing vitality independence in North America.”