Battery Recycling : Li-Cycle and Glencore Announce Global Strategic Partnership

Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., an industry leader in lithium-ion battery resource recovery and the leading lithium-ion battery recycler in North America, announced a strategic partnership with Glencore plc, a leading provider of primary metals for the production of EV batteries. The strategic partnership will better serve the EV battery supply chain by providing customers with an integrated approach for their primary and recycled metal needs.

Li-Cycle and Glencore have executed a global feedstock supply agreement under which Glencore will supply all types of manufacturing scrap and end-of-life lithium-ion batteries to Li-Cycle. Li-Cycle and Glencore have also entered into a non-binding Term Sheet for global, long-term strategic contracts, which would complement Li-Cycle’s existing off-take and marketing agreements, including:

• Supply of black mass to Li-Cycle’s Hubs
• Off-take of black mass from Li-Cycle’s Spokes
• Off-take of battery-grade end products produced by Li-Cycle’s Hubs
• Off-take of by-products from Li-Cycle’s Spokes and Hubs, and
• Supply of sulfuric acid, one of the key input reagents for Li-Cycle’s Hubs

Upon execution of the commercial agreements, Glencore will make a $200 million investment in Li-Cycle and Glencore will have the right to nominate one board member to the Li-Cycle board. Li-Cycle has agreed to nominate Kunal Sinha, Glencore’s Head of Recycling, to the Li-Cycle Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to have Glencore as a long-term strategic investor and global commercial partner. Bringing our complementary capabilities together will accelerate the path to a circular economy for critical materials in the lithium-ion battery supply chain,” said Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “These agreements further secure and diversify our lithium-ion battery supply and feedstock sources, competitively positioning our network expansion in North America and Europe.”

Critical material supply has been recognized as a key success factor for enabling electrification around the world and localized supply sources are increasingly important to EV strategies. Glencore and Li-Cycle have a shared vision to enable sustainable, localized supply chains for electrification and recognize that both primary and secondary (or recycled) critical materials are required to deliver on this vision.

“As we continue to add to our recycling infrastructure of critical battery materials, we are pleased to work with Li-Cycle as a preferred global partner in the lithium-ion battery recycling space,” said Kunal Sinha, Head of Recycling at Glencore. “This is a key step in establishing a strong long-term foundation for the vertical integration of the battery materials supply chain. Together, we will be expanding the spectrum of battery material supply solutions to a broader global customer base, particularly in Europe and North America.”