The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - August 8, 2025
Glencore is bringing the Li-Cycle assets into Glencore Battery Recycling, part of the company's global metals recycling network.
Li-Cycle was developing a spoke-and-hub network to recover critical materials from lithium-ion batteries.
In a move that could elevate its role in the circular battery economy, Swiss commodity and mining giant Glencore has acquired Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., the once-prominent lithium-ion battery recycling company that pioneered a global spoke-and-hub network before financial troubles forced it into bankruptcy.
Li-Cycle, which was founded in 2016 and went public in 2021, had quickly risen in prominence as a major player on the battery recycling scene. The company's innovative spoke-and-hub model for recovering critical materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt from end-of-life batteries had set it apart from the competition.
Its spoke facilities completed the initial battery disassembly, shredding, sorting, and recovery of black mass – a mixed material made up of lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite. The black mass recovered at the spokes would then be shipped to the Li-Cycle hubs to be refined into materials for new batteries.
With this model, Li-Cycle had built a network of spoke facilities across North America and Europe, achieving a processing capacity of over 50,000 metric tons of lithium-ion battery material annually.
This expansion included the establishment of facilities in Ontario, New York, Arizona, and Alabama, as well as the launch of its first European spoke in Germany, one of the largest facilities of its kind on the continent.
Li-Cycle was developing a spoke-and-hub network to recover critical materials from lithium-ion batteries.
The promise of Li-Cycle's innovative hub-and-spoke network to fill a growing need for EV battery recycling attracted the attention of Glencore, which invested $200 million into Li-Cycle in 2022 and another $75 million in 2024.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Energy agreed to loan Li-Cycle $475 million to help build out its hub-and-spoke recycling network in the U.S. However, Li-Cycle was never able to draw from this loan due to its inability to secure additional private funds needed to meet the conditions of the federal loan.
The inability to draw on the loan put Li-Cycle in a dire situation.
In March, the Canadian recycling startup warned shareholders that without a major cash infusion or strategic partnership, it "will need to significantly modify or terminate its operations and may need to dissolve and liquidate its assets under applicable bankruptcy laws."
Over the ensuing two months, Li-Cycle's situation continued to deteriorate, and in May, Li-Cycle filed for bankruptcy.
Glencore, which already held a large stake in Li-Cycle, has now agreed to acquire the bankrupt battery recycling company.
While Glencore confirmed the buyout, the global metals and mining company provided no details of the sale or its plans for the Li-Cycle network.
"We're excited for Li-Cycle to be part of Glencore and confident that this will bring continued value and enhanced service to our joint customers," the company wrote in a statement.
However, it seems that the Li-Cycle assets will serve as the foundation of a new Glencore division called Glencore Battery Recycling (GBR).
While details remain scarce, Glencore's takeover will strengthen the company's position as a major recycler of end-of-life electronics, lithium-ion batteries, and other critical metal-containing products.
With more than 17 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration, and technology metals.
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