For example, Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea averaged $10.56-11.33 per kg in the month of November 2024 to date, down sharply from $19.91-21.32 per kg one year before.

“The market is in a dip, and my question is when it will rebound. [It] will take off, but not so soon as we would have liked,” Nils Steinbrecher, managing director of Korean-owned recycler SK tes EMEA, said.

“Margins have taken a hit, and the feedstock prices have not gone as low as the commodity prices,” Chetan Jain, senior vice president of business development at major Indian recycler Lohum, said.

In the wake of the economic difficulties, major recycling European market participants such as large minerals firm Eramet, chemicals giant BASF and major metals producer Umicore have either delayed or cancelled their expansions into battery recycling markets over recent months.

But there is significant growth in volumes of scrap batteries expected in the coming years, Fastmarkets research data shows.

While the total supply of battery scrap and end-of-life batteries in Europe is forecast at 96,000 tonnes in 2024, that is forecast to rise to 252,000 tonnes in five years’ time, according to Fastmarkets’ research team.

Learn more about the outlook for battery scrap in 2025 as well as other key segments of the battery materials market, including lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite, when you watch our recent webinar. Simply fill in the form here to view the full global outlook for 2025.

Ecobat Solutions

One firm that has been busy opening lithium-ion battery recycling plants over the last year is major lead acid battery recycler Ecobat.

Its lithium battery shredding plant in Hettstedt, Germany, has been operational since 2023, and the company targets its shredding capacity will exceed 10,000 tonnes per year in the coming years, Tom Seward, EU key accounts director, Ecobat Solutions, said on Monday November 25.

Ecobat Solutions also set up a battery shredding pant in Arizona, US, as of 2023.

Ecobat’s UK lithium-ion battery pre-treatment plant in Darlaston, in the West Midlands, is currently being commissioned and will have a total planned input capacity exceeding 22,000 tonnes per year, according to Seward.

The company remains committed to producing black mass and not further refining the material, Seward said. The approach is consistent with plans laid out by former Ecobat Solutions vice president of global sales, Elliott Ethridge, in a Fastmarkets interview published in January 2024.

SungEel HiTech

South Korean recycling major SungEel HiTech was represented at the event by Soochul Park, managing director of SungEel Europe & Hungary.

Following the company’s recent expansion of hydrometallurgical capacity with the opening of its third hydro center in South Korea earlier this year, it is planning to further expand across Europe, Park said.

SungEel HiTech already operates pre-processing shredding plants for recycling lithium-ion batteries in Hungary and Poland, but the company is actively looking to expand into post-treatment refining capacity on the continent.

“The European Union will restrict black mass exports, so we will need to set up [hydrometallurgical capacity] in Europe,” he said.

SungEel could need as many as three hydrometallurgical post-treatment plants in Europe over the coming years, according to Park, with countries such as Hungary, Germany and France under consideration.

European Commission lawmakers have proposed a reclassification of black mass and lithium-ion battery scrap under waste codes, which is expected to halt exports of the materials from Europe to non-Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries once implemented.

Although South Korea as an OECD member country can legally import hazardous waste black mass, the Basel notification process can be time-consuming and costly, according to market participants.

Most producers of black mass in Europe are categorized as makers of hazardous waste material. Difficulty and expense in moving the material means they generally attract lower payables than material classified as product-spec black mass.

Fastmarkets’ latest assessments of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw Europe, % payable LME Nickel cash official price and the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) were 55-62% on Wednesday November 20, both unchanged since October 30.

Huayou Recycling

Chinese cobalt giant Huayou is another major company looking to make a splash with new western recycling capacity, Wei Zhang, managing director Europe and North America, Huayou Recycling, said on Tuesday November 26.

The company already has a major recycling operation in China with around 65,000 tonnes of input capacity for batteries, with capability to make 12,000 tonnes of nickel and cobalt sulfate, he said.

Huayou operates precursor cathode active materials (P-CAM) and CAM production in China and is building a CAM production site in Hungary.

It is also part of the joint venture which set up and operates the POSCO HY Clean Metal hydrometallurgical post-treatment plant in South Korea, which started commercial production in 2023.

But Huayou is also in discussions to set up hydrometallurgical post-treatment capacity for black mass in Europe, according to Zhang, with a decision on how the company will proceed expected by next year.

“The goal is not possible [currently] in Europe for a fully integrated system,” Zhang said, but he added that any upbuild in capacity would certainly require partnerships with local European companies.

“The recycling market still remains challenging, but there are opportunities,” he said. “If we do something here in Europe, we would like to be careful and serious.”

Huayou is also looking to set up black mass refining operations in the US, but timeframes on that were less clear, Zhang added.

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The post Lithium battery recyclers plan new Europe expansions despite tough market conditions appeared first on Fastmarkets.

MB-BMS-0014 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw USA, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)
MB-BMS-0015 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, exw USA, % payable LME Nickel cash official price

These payables are part of the Fastmarkets base metals, industrial minerals and minor metals packages.

For more information or to provide feedback on the delayed publication of this price or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this assessment, please contact Sean Barry by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Sean Barry, re: black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator US.”

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.

To see all Fastmarkets pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.

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According to the company’s third-quarter earnings report, Li-Cycle successfully completed the Rochester Hub internal technical review under the proposed mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) scope and expects annual production of up to approximately 8,250 tonnes of lithium carbonate and up to approximately 72,000 tonnes of MHP. The project’s nameplate processing capacity remains at 35,000 tonnes per year of black mass.

The company had recently announced a 100% off-take agreement with Glencore for the facility’s MHP production on October 31, which Li-Cycle said at the time was a step that could support the company’s efforts to finalize the DOE loan.

“We believe the completion of the DOE loan agreement and the continued support from partners like Glencore are strong endorsements of our technology, business model and the key role that Li-Cycle will play to support the shift to electrification,” Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle president and chief executive officer, said in the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday.

“We also thank the DOE for their continued support and are grateful for the bipartisan support for lithium-ion battery recycling and how it can underpin the development of a strong domestic battery supply chain,” Kochhar said.

Rochester Hub Cost to Completion

The company estimates the total capital cost of the Rochester Hub project through to mechanical completion to be approximately $960 million, with the current remaining estimated cost to complete at approximately $487 million.

According to Li-Cycle’s November 7 loan announcement, the loan will reach final maturity in March 2040, representing an approximately 15-year term, with a grace period on scheduled principal repayments until June 15, 2027. Interest during the construction period of the Rochester Hub can be capitalized up to $30 million, instead of being paid in cash.

But prior to the first advance under the DOE loan facility, the company must complete its base equity contribution (BEC) to the Rochester Hub project, which includes “settling certain existing commitments relating to the project for costs incurred but not yet paid” — totaling approximately $94 million — as of the end of the third quarter of 2024, and “funding approximately $173 million in reserve account requirements, of which up to approximately $97 million” can be satisfied through credit.

According to the announcement, these amounts “represent a significant portion of the remaining BEC” and “are among other components of the BEC that will need to be satisfied prior to first advance.”

“Throughout 2024, one of Li-Cycle’s primary objectives has been to finalize negotiations with the DOE in order to enter into definitive documentation to obtain a DOE loan. Securing the DOE Loan Facility through our close collaboration with the DOE is a critical step toward our goal of restarting construction at the Rochester Hub project,” Kochhar said of the loan announcement.

“We believe [the DOE loan] will also enhance our financial flexibility and support our mission to create a sustainable, closed-loop battery supply chain, which is vital to the electrification transition and securing energy independence in North America,” he added.

According to the company’s third quarter 10-Q SEC filing, the company is “actively exploring additional financing and strategic alternatives for a complete funding package needed to restart construction at the Rochester Hub (of which the DOE Loan Facility is a key component) and for general corporate purposes. The funding package would assist in satisfying the conditions required to draw against the DOE Loan Facility, including funding the remaining [BEC].”

But, the 10-Q went on to say, “there can be no assurance that the company will be able to secure additional funding at attractive commercial terms, or at all.”

“Furthermore, any additional financing, including the recent Glencore…investment, and any borrowings that become available under the DOE Loan Facility, and any future sales made” under the equity offering program for offer and sale of common shares as part of the At The Market Issuance Sales Agreement between Li-Cycle and B. Riley Securities Inc. in June 2024 [ATM Program], “may be insufficient to provide adequate liquidity for ongoing operations, to fund the company’s future growth or capital projects, including the Rochester Hub, or otherwise satisfy any of the company’s funding needs and obligations,” the 10-Q stated.

Both DOE and Glencore loans/funding “have, or will have restrictive covenants that significantly limit the company’s operating and financial flexibility or its ability to obtain future funding. In addition, there are inherent risks associated with the company’s ability to execute its growth strategy. There can be no assurance that the company will develop the manufacturing capabilities and processes, secure reliable sources of component supply to meet quality, engineering, design or production standards, or meet the required production volumes to grow into a viable, cash-flow-positive business successfully,” according to the 10-Q.

Following the securing of additional financing alternatives, the Rochester Hub will be subject to the completion of the company’s comprehensive review and updated final investment decision before construction at the Hub begins again, according to the company’s third-quarter earnings presentation.

The loan announcement comes at a time when market sources have expressed concern regarding future funds for the industry, following the results of the 2024 US presidential election. But, the company’s third-quarter presentation said, there is “bipartisan support for building a domestic battery supply chain for economic and national security interests.”

Stronger quarterly results

The company’s third-quarter earnings report noted that Li-Cycle is continuing to implement spoke optimization initiatives, which it believes “will improve cash flows at its Generation 3 spokes in Arizona, Alabama and Germany, with a view to establishing a self-sufficient and financially accretive spoke business.”

The company announced it had achieved strong year-over-year revenue growth in its quarterly earnings, with total revenue reaching $8.4 million in the third quarter of 2024 compared with $4.7 million in the same quarter of 2023. The company cited the revenue increase as a result of higher recycling services revenue, totaling $4 million in the quarter, versus $1.2 million in the same period of 2023.

In the three months ended September 30, Li-Cycle sold a total of 1,989 tonnes of black mass and equivalents, up from 892 tonnes in the same 2023 period. In the first nine months of the year, the company sold a total of 4,190 tonnes, up from 3,866 tonnes sold over the first nine months of 2023.

The company noted in the 10-Q report that the increase in recycling service revenue was primarily due to new service contracts entered into in 2024 in addition to the Germany spoke operations that began in August 2023.

These increases have helped offset declining nickel and cobalt prices in 2024. The company’s 10-Q report showed average market price per tonne for the nine months ended September 30 as $25,807 for cobalt and $17,079 for nickel. These prices are down significantly since the same 2023 period, when the average price per tonne was $33,363 for cobalt and $23,574 for nickel.

These declines have led the declining payables and demand in the black mass market, as refiners have struggled to operate amid thinner and thinner margins.

Li-Cycle produced 4,172 tonnes of black mass and equivalents in the first nine months of 2024, down from 4,891 tonnes in the same 2023 period. The 10-Q reported cited the decrease as a result of the slowdown of operations at the company’s North American spokes, but was offset by an increase in European spoke operations.

As of September 30, the company has 4 operational spokes: New York, with a mainline material processing capacity of 5,000 tpy, and Arizona, Alabama, and Germany, each with material processing capacities of 10,000 tpy.

Despite these competing factors, Kochhar noted that long-term fundamentals for the battery recycling industry remain strong.

“We continue to believe strongly in this market and the role that we will play in energy and critical material independence,” Kochhar said.

Fastmarkets’ battery raw materials suite combines the vital commercial insights, data, news and analytics you need to make accurate forecasts, manage inventories and price risks and benchmark costs against your peers. Head to our BRM hub to learn more.

The post Li-Cycle closes on $475 million DOE loan and reports stronger revenue growth appeared first on Fastmarkets.

Sources have been skeptical as to whether the Ontario-based battery recycler would be able to sell the material. The agreement could strengthen Li-Cycle’s case for the DOE loan, which requires assurances that the company can meet current and future financial obligations.

“The payment terms and working capital facilities for the commercial agreements needed to align with the requirements of the proposed DOE loan,” Diaz said. “By amending the commercial agreements now, then it helps support the DOE loan process.”

Currently, the only US entity producing MHP is Nth Cycle; an overwhelming majority of MHP is imported from Indonesia. Li-Cycle’s MHP production could also strengthen its case for the DOE loan from this perspective, given the regional demand for MHP amid ongoing efforts to strengthen US supply chains for critical materials.

The loan was first announced in February 2023 and could reach $375 million, but Li-Cycle said it was seeking to increase that amount in the company’s 10-Q report in August 2024.

Efforts to secure DOE loan

Li-Cycle has emphasized its efforts to secure the DOE loan as a crucial step in moving forward with the Rochester hub.

The company announced in its 2023 third-quarter earnings call in October of last year that it would pause construction at the facility, with chief executive officer Ajay Kochhar citing higher-than-estimated costs and financing delays.

“Closing the US DOE loan remains our top priority,” Kochhar said during the company’s 2024 second-quarter earnings call in August. “We continue to work closely with the DOE Loan Programs Office to advance toward definitive financing documentation and satisfying [the necessary conditions] for loan disbursement.”

In its 10-Q report, however, the company said that “there can be no assurances that the closing of the DOE loan or any other financing transaction would be sufficient to restart construction or complete the development of the Rochester Hub.”

Sources have expressed concern about the loan but have noted the importance of the company in a market fraught with difficulties in expansions and production.

Li-Cycle reports losses, cuts production

The halting of the Rochester project is not the only roadblock Li-Cycle has faced recently.

In the company’s 10-K report filed last March, it said that “based on its recurring losses from operations since inception… negative cash flows from operating activities… and the pause on construction of the Rochester Hub project… [Li-Cycle] has concluded that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

Li-Cycle also said in the report that it was slowing down operations at its New York, Alabama and Arizona facilities, and pausing plans for facilities in France, Norway and Hungary, as well as for the Portovesme hub in Italy.

Leases in Singapore and Millhaven, Ontario, expired in 2024, with no plans for renewal. In its 2024 second-quarter report, Li-Cycle said that it would transition its Ontario facility from an operational pause to closure.

On March 12, just before its 10-K report was filed, Li-Cycle announced it had received an additional $75 million investment from Glencore, which built on previous investments of $225 million. As part of the agreement, Li-Cycle would appoint two additional nominees of Glencore to its board of directors, bringing Glencore-nominated board members to three.

Despite these setbacks, Li-Cycle said it has completed its technical review of the MHP scope of the Rochester hub, advanced the go-forward execution plan for the hub and refined cost estimates with the local market to evaluate the project’s total cost estimate, according to the October 31 press release.

Kunal Sinha, global head of recycling for Glencore and a member of Li-Cycle’s board of directors, said, “We are pleased to support Li-Cycle’s Rochester Hub plan through an amended commercial framework that will include both lithium carbonate and MHP.”

“Glencore is committed to creating a closed-loop battery materials supply chain and our ongoing partnership with Li-Cycle is a key part of this strategy,” he added.

Nickel prices remain weak

Although Li-Cycle’s MHP production – should Rochester come online – would provide much-needed supply to the North American supply chain, the efforts come while nickel prices remain weak.

The LME three-month nickel price has continually dropped in recent weeks, falling sharply since its early-October high of $18,225 per tonne on October 3, to a low of $15,800 per tonne on October 31.

Such decreases in base metals pricing have negatively affected demand for black mass as well, particularly in South Korean markets, which rely heavily on imports.

Li-Cycle currently produces black mass at its US plants in Arizona, Alabama and New York, as well as in Germany.

Fastmarkets’ battery raw materials suite combines the vital commercial insights, data, news and analytics you need to make accurate forecasts, manage inventories and price risks and benchmark costs against your peers. Head to our BRM hub to learn more.

The post Glencore to buy Li-Cycle’s Rochester hub MHP production; agreement could help recycler secure DOE loan appeared first on Fastmarkets.

Its expansion comes after investments into the company by SQM Lithium Ventures, the corporate venture arm of South American lithium producer Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM).

Post-treatment projects

One part of Altilium’s development is its building of post-treatment plants with input of battery scrap or black mass, in both the UK and Bulgaria.

Its Medet recycling hub in central-west Bulgaria is being developed as a “one-stop-shop for critical minerals in the European region, including copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt,” the firm said in May.

Altilium’s Medet hub will host a retrofit hydrometallurgical plant to recycle old electric vehicle (EV) batteries and production scrap from Eastern Europe, with capacity to process scrap from 24,000 EVs per year, the company said in May.

“We are completing final engineering work and [are] on track for commissioning next year,” a company spokesman told Fastmarkets on Thursday.

The Medet unit will also feature a copper tailings project to recycle copper from old mine waste.

“The vast site of the Medet tailings contains approximately 110 million tonnes of waste material,” Altilium said in June. “Altilium plans to recover copper and other minerals from the tailings, using its proprietary hydrometallurgical process, transforming what was once considered waste into a critical resource for Europe’s future battery industry.”

Altilium’s first mini-commercial plant is currently under construction in Plymouth, southwestern England, while its planned Teesside plant in northeastern England will be one of the largest EV battery recycling facilities in Europe once completed, the firm says.

The Teesside plant will have capacity to process scrap from more than 150,000 EVs per year, producing 30,000 tonnes per year of cathode active materials (CAM), enough to meet around 20% of the UK’s expected needs by 2030, according to Altilium.

Current operational refining capacity for black mass in Europe remains low, with many firms on the continent only operating pilot plants or demonstration post-treatment plants.

The vast majority of operational recycling capacity in Europe comes in the form of pre-treatment, shredding plants, with the newest example being the recent opening by South Korean-owned SK TES of its new Rotterdam facility to produce black mass.

Due to the lack of local processing, and several logistical and legal hurdles concerning the export of hazardous waste black mass from the EU through the Basel Convention framework, some black mass producers prefer to sell their material locally, at relatively low payables, to traders or agents based in Europe but representing foreign companies, according to market sources.

This situation allows European consumers to be able to obtain black mass at lower payables than are seen in the US market, which is not a signatory to the Basel Convention.

Fastmarkets’ latest assessments of its black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw Europe, % payable LME Nickel cash official price, and of its black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end), were both 55-60% on October 9, unchanged week on week.

Fastmarkets’ corresponding assessments of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, exw USA, % payable LME nickel cash official price, and the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw USA, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end), were both 64-70% on Wednesday, narrowing upward from 63-70% a week earlier.

Agreements signed

In order to supercharge its end-to-end operational capability, Altilium agreed a new strategic partnership in June with recycling firm Enva for the collection and recycling of EV batteries in the UK.

The partnership will provide feed for Altilium’s Teesside refinery, a planned facility to refine lithium-ion battery scrap into battery-ready cathode anode material (CAM) for reuse in new battery production, the firm said.

Altilium in July also announced a new strategic relationship with Connected Energy, a developer of second-life battery energy storage systems.

Under the partnership, the two firms will collaborate to develop business models for the repurposing and recycling of EV batteries, bringing value to both companies, according to Altilium.

In September, Altilium received UK government funding for two of its projects with a total investment of £1.74 million ($2.27 million). This included the Teesside plant and a new partnership with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the production and qualification of battery cells using CAM recovered from end-of-life batteries.

Also in September, Altilium announced that it has joined with major UK-based carmaker Jaguar-Land Rover to validate EV battery cells using recycled CAM.

“We are proud to lead this pioneering project with JLR that brings us one step closer to a circular economy for battery materials in the UK,” Dr Christian Marston, Altilium’s chief operating officer, said.

“By demonstrating that EV battery cells made from recovered materials can meet the rigorous standards of the automotive industry,” he added, “we’re not only reducing the environmental impact of battery production, but also supporting the UK’s efforts to build a more sustainable and resilient EV supply chain.”

Looking for more insights and intelligence to understand the future of the li-ion battery recycling market? Visit our dedicated lithium battery recycling hub today.

The post UK recycler Altilium expanding to provide ‘fully circular’ model for Li battery materials appeared first on Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate spot battery-grade prices fell in early September before recovering slightly towards the end of the month, while cobalt standard-grade prices remained largely depressed throughout the month.

Keep scrolling for an overview of price movements in Asia and Europe

Asia

South Korean black mass consumers had voiced concerns in August that black mass payables were too expensive for them to manage, and the clamor became stronger in early September on the nickel and lithium price drops.

Fastmarkets heard that some major consumers of black mass had reduced their operation rates in response to the metal margin crunch, leading to a reduction in demand for black mass. Trading was also halted during the middle of the month due to the Korean Chuseok mid-autumn festival during September 16-18.

The lack of buying interest led to most Korean buyers dropping their bids for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) black mass to 60-65% CIF for payables of nickel and cobalt including the value of lithium.

Transactions were few and far between during the month. Some Japanese NCM black mass was heard sold at 66% CIF Southeast Asia for payables of nickel and cobalt including the value of lithium during the early part of the month. Higher-grade Japanese NCM black mass was heard sold at 73% CIF in the middle of the month, but then fell to 70% CIF by the end of the month, Fastmarkets heard.

Domestic NCM materials were heard purchased at 70% delivered South Korea for payables of nickel and cobalt including the value of lithium towards the end of the month, down from 70-75% delivered in late August.

European and US materials within Fastmarkets’ specifications, but which were understood to have lower metals contents within the methodology range, were heard sold in early September at payables of 65% CIF Southeast Asia for nickel and cobalt, and 2.5% CIF for lithium payables.

Fastmarkets’ South Korean black mass payable assessments calculate lithium separately from its nickel and cobalt payables, in line with demand from the market.

The average Fastmarkets payables assessments for black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, cif South Korea, % payable LME nickel cash official price and black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) were both at 68.38% in September, down compared with 71% in August.

The average Fastmarkets payable assessment for black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea was 3.25% in September, down from 3.38% in August.

While offers for European and Japanese materials were heard to have fallen to 65-70% CIF Korea levels during the month, sellers in the US held their offers firm at 70-75% CIF Korea.

Some US sellers did not wish to sell their black mass below payables of 70% EXW US for nickel and cobalt because the material was available as a low-impurity and high-consistency cargo, Fastmarkets heard, which meant their CIF Asia offers remained inflated.

Fastmarkets’ daily price for black mass, NCM/NCA, inferred, cif South Korea averaged $3,829.65 per tonne in September. This compared with the average value in August of $4,049.88 per tonne.

The inferred price uses the midpoint of Fastmarkets’ black mass payables, the midpoint of metal contents in the black mass covered in the specification, and the underlying metal prices.

Europe

European black mass payables held largely firm in September despite the lower demand in Asia, according to market sources.

Sources said that recent decreases in container freight had allowed the gap between the EXW Europe and CIF Asia markets to narrow, while some European vendors were able to extract higher payables from overseas buyers for their materials.

Deals for hazardous waste-classified NCM black mass to traders or agents for export were heard at 53-58% EXW Europe in the second week of the month, while local buyers were indicating the market at 50% EXW for nickel and cobalt.

But Fastmarkets heard that local consumer buying levels remained low, with a lack of commercial-scale operational capacity in Europe meaning that most material was being exported.

Product status black mass, which does not need to pass through Basel convention notification procedures, was heard offered at 64-65% EXW Europe by the end of the month.

The average Fastmarkets payables assessments for black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw Europe, % payable LME nickel cash official price and of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) were both at 56% in September, up marginally from 55.5% in August.

Fastmarkets’ daily price for black mass, NCM/NCA, inferred, exw Europe averaged $3,056.99 per tonne in September. This compared with the average value in August of $3,106.69 per tonne.

The post South Korean black mass payables drop in September on poor metal margins appeared first on Fastmarkets.

Led by China, the LFP chemistry is rapidly growing as a proportion of global electric vehicle (EV) battery production, which means that the volume of LFP battery scrap and black mass being produced in Europe is also rising sharply – albeit from a low base.

Fastmarkets’ research team estimates that around 26% of all black mass-produced globally will be of LFP chemistry in 2024, but this portion is forecast to rise to 32% by 2034.

Much of the LFP scrap arisings and black mass production currently made from this battery chemistry takes place in China. But European companies are increasingly searching for solutions and outlets for their LFP black mass.

European LFP recycling was a key issue raised by numerous delegates at the recent International Congress for Battery Recycling (ICBR) 2024 in Basel, Switzerland, held on September 10-12.

Economics in LFP recycling

At the heart of the issue around LFP black mass recycling is the fact that the process is less economically lucrative than that of nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) due to the lower value of their output materials, Korean black mass consumers have told Fastmarkets.

The main elements being recovered from LFP black mass are lithium and graphite, along with copper and aluminium. Lithium prices have fallen very sharply over the last year, while graphite is still not yet recycled on a commercial scale.

Fastmarkets’ price assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea was $9,800-11,300 per tonne on Monday September 23 ($1,390-1,602), with the price midpoint down by 59.4% year on year from $25,000-27,000 per tonne on September 20, 2023.

“The lack of nickel and cobalt kills the economics of recycling LFP batteries,” Luke Sweeney, senior battery recycling analyst at Fastmarkets, said.

“Modern battery cathode chemistries have less inferred value, be it in the form of LFP, lithium manganese iron phosphate battery (LMFP) or from the decreasing cobalt content in NCM cathodes. This poses a big long-term economic problem for battery recyclers as their battery feedstock is set to decrease in intrinsic value over the next ten years,” Sweeney added.

According to estimates by Fastmarkets’ research team, the intrinsic value of key metals in an average LCO battery are worth more than five times that of an LFP battery, while the average NCM cell is worth just under four times the value of an LFP battery, as shown in the chart.

Even for the higher-value and more popular NCM and LCO black mass chemistries, lower lithium prices and demand for recycled lithium salts have squeezed margins at black mass post-treatment facilities in Asia, thereby reducing consumer intake volumes and black mass payables.

Demand for LFP black mass is even lower across South Korea and Southeast Asia.

Incentive to take LFP scrap

European companies are currently paid to recycle LFP batteries, according to market sources, in a transaction known as a gate fee.

Gate fees depend on the state of batteries received, volumes and locations across the EU, but Fastmarkets has recently heard of fees around €3,000-4,000 ($3,349-4,465) per tonne of scrap LFP batteries being paid to recycle the batteries.

By comparison, recent gate fees for scrap NCM batteries have been heard around €0-400 per tonne depending on location and company. Some firms have been heard even paying for these materials given the rising capacity for black mass production in Europe.

While some major European black mass producers are already procuring LFP battery scrap, and producing LFP black mass, the question then becomes: what next?

One European producer told Fastmarkets on the ICBR sidelines in Basel that although some of their black mass is being sold effectively for free in the EU market, other volumes are being disposed. “We hope to be paid for this material in the future,” they said.

The cost of safe disposal of LFP is several hundred euros per tonne, a European trader said on the ICBR sidelines. The main objective in recycling LFP batteries currently is to ensure black mass producers can cover their costs, they added.

Challenges faced in recycling LFP black mass are not unique within the European industry treating hazardous waste materials.

“Available data indicates that more than half of the hazardous waste we generate in the EU is disposed of, and reuse and recycling account for 34%,” the European Court of Auditors said in a 2023 report.

“Some hazardous wastes streams are technically difficult to recycle on a large scale or in an economically viable way. When this is possible, recycling facilities encounter difficulties to decontaminate waste or to find market opportunities for the recycled outcome,” the report added.

Where are the outlets?

Once a producer or trader has LFP black mass in hand, the next issue then becomes who will buy the material.

European domestic capacity to consume black mass is nascent even for NCM and LCO materials. Interest in treating LFP black mass locally is slim to none. That means export is being explored by market participants.

China is by far the largest market for LFP black mass, but most of the LFP black mass produced in Europe today is categorized as hazardous waste, meaning that it cannot be legally exported to nations of outside of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Furthermore, a Chinese trader source told Fastmarkets last week that although they are having more success in importing high-grade black mass and black powder of NCM chemistries into China amid a gradual relaxation of Chinese import rules, importing LFP black mass was still illegal.

In the Chinese domestic market, Fastmarkets has recently heard LFP black mass with lithium content over 3.8% priced at 2,600-2,700 yuan ($369-383) per 1% lithium, and LFP black mass with lithium content lower than 2.5% was heard at 2,300-2,500 yuan per 1% lithium.

By comparison, the value of the material is very low outside of China, according to sources.

South Korea is the largest OECD-member importer of black mass, but even companies in that country have a lack of interest in purchasing LFP black mass due to the recent drop in lithium prices making the process economically challenging.

A Chinese LFP consumer source told Fastmarkets last week that they were actively trying to purchase European LFP black mass for free, and could take the material on a CIF South Korea basis. It is not known if the material would be then consumed in South Korea or shipped into China from South Korea.

But some European producer companies have voiced concerns to Fastmarkets in recent months that although they will happily do business with South Korean companies for consumption in South Korea, they do not want to risk the possibility of their materials being trans-shipped outside of the OECD into China or Southeast Asia.

While most producers of black mass in Europe are classified as makers of hazardous waste, a smaller number of companies producing chemically similar materials have accreditation from their local authorities to say that the black mass they make is classified as a “product”, the latter of which can be shipped outside of the OECD and does not require certain waste-related documentation.

The European Commission is expected to iron out this imbalance and define all black mass as a hazardous waste material by the end of 2024, industry sources have told Fastmarkets.

The post European LFP recycling vital for future but facing economic barriers: LME Week appeared first on Fastmarkets.

Fairfield and MHP

“We like to say we didn’t build a refinery, we didn’t even build that building – we installed our electro-extraction technology, which we call the Oyster… to refine a variety of nickel-bearing feedstocks, batteries or black mass being one of them, from our partner recycling facilities,” O’Connor told Fastmarkets.

The company was able to install and operationalize their Oyster system at an existing 20,000-square-foot facility that will process black mass and other nickel scrap, as well as serve as a test site for partners. The Fairfield, Ohio, facility can process up to 3,100 tonnes per year of scrap materials to produce up to 900 tpy of MHP, according to a September 10 Nth Cycle press release.

The installed Oyster system converts recyclable industrial waste and mined ore into the full spectrum of critical metals and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90%, the press release said. According to O’Connor, the Nth Cycle process has a yield of over 90%, on a metals basis.

“We’re really excited to be that first step in the right direction toward getting a secure domestic supply of these critical minerals here in the US,” O’Connor said.

“Ohio is unique because we fully own and operate this facility. But our business model is to go onsite with partners. So, the next and all the deployments after this are really to deploy on site [with recycling partners,] at least in the near term,” she said.

These partnerships may include smaller, more regional recycling facilities, or larger automotive, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or other industry partnerships.

The plan, O’Connor said, is to switch to tolling agreements with these partners for the use of Nth Cycle’s technology. Ohio will be the sole facility that Nth Cycle sells its own material out of.

The MHP produced at the Ohio facility will be sold on a combination of contracts, spot markets and in tandem with recycling partnerships, according to O’Connor.

“We’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback so far,” O’Connor said regarding the MHP produced at the facility.

“It’s sort of a product that nobody’s ever really seen before,” in terms of its quality, she said. “I think it falls in that [MHP] category, but it is a very premium product compared to what you see [available] overseas.”

In an interview with Fastmarkets, vice president, head of business development at Nth Cycle in 2023, Guillermo Espiga, said that the Oyster produces high-purity MHP with a combined nickel and cobalt content of 55-60% (dry basis); in contrast, Indonesian MHP typically has a combined nickel and cobalt content of 35-40% (dry basis).

Critical materials

O’Connor also spoke on the current markets for battery raw materials and the effects downstream, as weak underlying metals rates have pushed down payables for black mass across Asia, Europe and the US.

“I think our strategy from the very beginning when we founded Nth Cycle was… batteries, cobalt and nickel, [these] one or two supply chains we need to fix, but there’s a need for all critical minerals, right? They all have the same issues, the same story of, the vast majority of our supply comes from overseas and refining tends to be the biggest problem with onshoring all of those,” O’Connor said. “We started with cobalt and nickel, [but] the beauty of our technology is that we can process more than just one feedstock. So, we’re not pitting ourselves to just the battery industry and we also produce a product that can go into any nickel end use [market.]”

“We knew we would face a down cycle [of metals prices] at some point in building this company, and so it just happens to be now. But we developed a strategy to be able to operate. And that’s another issue we’re trying to solve in this space,” she said. “We wanted to build a system that could operate through these low times, because that’s where we feel the biggest impact could be made.”

“That’s part of the modularity and why we chose to build a modular system that could scale and turn on quickly when metals prices are high but still operate when prices are low, instead of building out one centralized facility that has to operate at a certain… high volume in order to be profitable and otherwise has to be completely shut down. Those are really the dynamics that we’re trying to solve here with the system that we’ve built,” O’Connor said.

In terms of plans to process more critical minerals in the future, O’Connor said that “getting to scale and deploying as many units as we can for this specific cobalt-nickel scrap refining application are really the near-term goals; and then in development right now, which we hope to have fully ready in about a year or two years, is… to work with copper scrap.”

Right now, the nickel-bearing scrap material can “also have copper. So, all these folks get a wide range of scrap materials, not typically just one or the other,” she said.

Also in the pipeline are rare earths, “so think about magnet recycling [as] sort of the third and furthest out on our development timeline.”

The nickel-cobalt refining also produces a lithium brine, and Nth Cycle is “working to develop a solution to produce a by-product” out of that as well, O’Connor said.

Fastmarkets’ coverage of critical minerals includes in-depth price data, market insights and short- and long-term forecasting and analysis for commodities. Explore our critical minerals hub for more.

Industry headwinds

When looking at the critical materials supply chain, “[one] of the biggest challenges the industry faces is just speed,” O’Connor said. “I think that’s one of the things we’re trying to combat and one of the reasons five [to] seven years ago we were developing the strategy of how we’re going to deploy… speed is everything.”

“We don’t need critical minerals 10… or five years from now, we need them yesterday,” O’Connor said, adding that part of the company’s aim is to “sort of show people that there’s this new model that will help us. While one of our deployments is not massive volumes, the goal is to get as many of these deployments out as we can, and getting them out in under 12 months is what we’ve been able to prove with Ohio.”

“We can rapidly deploy these in parallel to try and start to solve these really painful issues fairly quickly, even in this environment of low commodity prices,” she said.

Looking at the US supply chain for critical materials, O’Connor said, “I don’t think we’ll solve this issue if we don’t become modular.”

When looking at large-scale investments for refineries in the US, O’Connor said there is “risk on top of risk.”

But, she continued, “we think we are uniquely positioned to be that modular solution because of our technology. The technology enables the strategy and the business model. I do think we’ll start to see more… [companies] trying to figure out other modular solutions.”

When looking at the perception of the industry and supply chains, O’Connor said that “there’s a sentiment in the market that EVs or EV sales are slowing down. We’re seeing some of the big OEMS say that they’re not going to go fully electric by the dates that they were hoping, and so I think that has just caused folks to think that we don’t necessarily need the speed or the capacity that we do.”

“There’s still a massive opportunity and a massive need for this. That’s just one of many great industries that will help us get to a clean energy economy. And so what I don’t want folks to do is forget about the rest of the things that we have to do to get there. I think EVs are one small piece of that. We’re trying to just educate folks [that] this is bigger than batteries. I mean, batteries [are] a big piece of that, but it is only one piece,” she said.

“There’s a lot of investments happening and there’s a lot of refineries trying to be built, ”but they are not yet operational, O’Connor said, adding that given Nth Cycle’s position as being “one of the only ones operational,” they are “excited to be able to process the black mass… and really start to move this industry forward.”

“Instead of just shredding batteries we can actually process them back into something usable again,” she said.

European markets

Nth Cycle is also looking at investments and growth in Europe, whose market “is pulling us in very rapidly,” O’Connor told Fastmarkets.

“I think they have a very unique regulatory space [where] they really, really need this,” she said. “The US is on its way, the Inflation Reduction Act is one piece, I think, to get us to move as fast as we need to to really solve this issue from a climate change perspective. But I think Europe… is just faster and has done more to really force – whether you’re talking about the manufacturers or whoever in the supply chain – to recycle, and refining is a piece of that.”

“We’re being pulled very quickly into Europe because they really don’t have anything else to do with their scrap at the moment,” she added.

Most of the black mass produced in Europe is currently designated as hazardous waste material, which means that it cannot be shipped to nations outside of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Developed (OECD), and trading inside the OECD is only possible when going through a notification procedure under Basel Convention rules.

When looking at difficulties in transporting black mass material in Europe, O’Connor said that a “unique benefit of our system is that we… can go right on site… we don’t necessarily have to worry about that transportation across borders.”

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The post Nth Cycle CEO interview: Commercial operations start in Ohio and modularity a necessity in US critical materials supply chain appeared first on Fastmarkets.

Asia

The sharp downtrend in lithium prices observed during the month also led to a decline in the value of lithium paid in black mass, Fastmarkets understands.

Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for lithium payables in black mass dropped twice during August due to bearish lithium sentiment and reduced interest in paying for lithium in black mass across major markets, sources said.

In August, the assessment of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea averaged 3.38%, down from the average of 4.00% in July.

For payables of nickel and cobalt, most consumer bids for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) black mass of low impurity were heard at payables of 70-73% CIF South Korea, including the value of lithium, at the start of August, with limited volumes of transactions for similar materials reportedly done at 73-76% CIF South Korea.

But by the end of August, bids from most South Korean consumers dropped to payables of no higher than 70% CIF for nickel and cobalt, lithium value included, which would work out to 69% CIF without the value of lithium.

Despite sluggish demand, offers from the US market to Asia for NCM black mass fitting Fastmarkets’ specifications were mostly heard at payables of 75-80% CIF for nickel and cobalt, including the value of lithium.

Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for black mass, NCM/NCA, inferred, cif South Korea averaged $4,049.88 per tonne in August, down from the average of $4,252.63 per tonne in July.

The inferred price uses the midpoint of Fastmarkets’ assessment for black mass payables, the midpoint of metal contents in the black mass covered in the specification, and underlying metal prices.

Fastmarkets’ assessments for South Korean black mass payables calculate lithium separately from nickel and cobalt payables, in line with demand from the market.

In August, the assessments of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, cif South Korea, % payable LME nickel cash official price and of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) both averaged 71%, down from the average of 71.70% in July.

Europe

Lower demand in Asia is causing issues for European sellers, with a producer source in the region telling Fastmarkets that some processors are running at low levels of operating capacity utilization.

Product-status NCM black mass from Europe for export to Asia was heard offered at 65-66% ex-works Europe for payables of nickel and cobalt, including the value of lithium, in August.

In the case of hazardous waste material for domestic consumption, offers were heard at payables of nickel and cobalt in the range of 55-65% ex-works Europe.

But consumers in Europe speaking with Fastmarkets over recent weeks said they are targeting payables of only 50-55% ex-works for nickel and cobalt in NCM black mass, with some deals for hazardous-waste-classified NCM black mass heard in the European market at 55-58% ex-works Europe by the end of August.

In August, the assessments of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw Europe, % payable LME Nickel cash official price and of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) both averaged 55.50%, down from the average of 57.50% in July.

Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for black mass, NCM/NCA, inferred, exw Europe averaged $3,106.69 per tonne in August, down from the average of $3,333.60 per tonne in July.

Click through to view our black mass prices

The post Asian black mass purchasing slows in August on sluggish battery metal markets appeared first on Fastmarkets.

Last year, 6% of globally generated lithium-ion battery scrap was generated by the US, but that percentage is expected to rise to 11% by 2034, according to the latest estimates from Fastmarkets’ research team. In the US, 87,000 tonnes of battery scrap are expected to be available for recycling in 2024, and this tonnage is expected to increase by approximately 488% by 2034.

The US is also estimated to produce approximately 40,000 tonnes of black mass in 2024, which is expected to rise to about 270,000 tonnes, or 13% of total market share, in 2034, per Fastmarkets’ research team.

According to the DOE, as of 2023, the US had enough domestic battery recycling capacity to reclaim only 35,500 short tons of battery materials per year, with more facilities planned in the next two to four years to reclaim an additional 76,000 short tons of material per year.

Nearly 175,000 short tons of material were reclaimed in intermediate processing facilities in 2023, with plans to handle nearly 198,000 additional short tons in the next few years, according to the DOE.

As a result of the widening oversupply in black mass, most market participants expect that a significant volume of US material will continue to be exported over the short and medium term, while a portion of that material may be stored in warehouses until it can be processed domestically.

Currently, many US black mass producers sell their materials on an ex-works basis to either limited domestic consumers, traders or foreign consumers, according to market sources, particularly to Southeast Asian and South Korean markets.

“Most of the material today, be it black mass or be it batteries, [is] being exported to Asia,” and, in addition to the lack of refining capacity, “[it’s] also because they’re offering more profit for these metals,” Alberto Pascual, commercial manager at Nth Cycle, said during the Battery and Critical Metals Recycling Conference in June.

A manufacturing renaissance stemming from governmental focus on recycling and other efforts to secure supply chains for critical battery materials has come in the form of $7 billion worth of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), as well as tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

But, according to market sources, with the market still developing, the US market cannot yet support a robust domestic trade of this material.

Talk of export restrictions or bans on US black mass are occasionally heard, but most market participants told Fastmarkets they do not believe any will come to fruition anytime soon, if ever.

“The problem that we’re trying to solve here is very simple… and we see this as the elephant in the room, and it’s really that there’s not enough refining capacity in the United States,” Pascual said.

While this refining capability continues to be incentivized and capacity grows, so does market interest in US black mass.

Sources currently describe the market as “opaque,” with refiners needing different compositions of black mass depending on refining capabilities.

However, more homogeny is expected with the expansion of refining capacity and the emergence of different technologies as more popular or successful, sources have said.

Financial issues have also delayed progress of some major Western entrants into the sector while weaker battery metal prices and stronger black mass payables amid stiff competition in Asia have hampered conversion margins for black mass consumers.

US incentivizing growth

The current US administration’s drive to support decarbonization efforts has manifested in hefty industry investment.

US black mass refining has been incentivized by both BIL funding and the IRA, which motivates automakers to use domestically manufactured components for electric vehicle (EV) batteries through the 30D tax credit, which incentivizes the sale of “clean” vehicles.

“There’s a lot of focus being put on this subject right now by the government, and the government is actually showing a lot of good will as wanting to work with the industry to create a sustainable environment, both economically and environmentally for the movement of batteries,” Emil Nusbaum, vice president of strategy, government and regulatory affairs at the Automotive Recyclers Association also said at the Battery and Critical Metals Recycling Conference.

Additionally, since the start of the Biden administration, $173 billion in private-sector investment has been announced across the US clean vehicle and battery supply chain, it was stated in a Treasury Department announcement on May 3.

Joint ventures and memorandums of understanding in recent years have emphasized efforts to “close the loop” between production, recycling and refining to ensure as much material as possible stays within US battery supply chains.

“When you’re trying to compete on a global stage, you’ve got to be competitive… especially when you’re playing catch-up. So, in this case, [the] United States is playing catch-up with China,” Mike O’Kronley, chief executive officer of Ascend Elements said at the same conference.

And in order to do that, “you need some help, especially when you’re going up against very established players that are already at that capacity and capability. And so, if we want that to be in the United States, you need a certain amount of help, and that’s certainly what the [DOE] has done. Not only with us, but a lot of other technologies, a lot of other US innovations,” O’Kronley continued.

Fastmarkets’ commitment to transparency in developing markets

Based on growing demand for transparency across the battery recycling supply chain, and to complement its existing suite of European and Asian Black Mass Payable Indicators, Fastmarkets has launched a raft of US payable indicators effective Wednesday August 7.

Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw USA, % payable LME Nickel cash official price
Quality: Nickel and cobalt-rich black mass composed with metal content of 15-25% nickel, 3-13% cobalt, max 2% aluminium, max 2% copper, max 5% fluorine, max 1% iron
Quantity: min 1 tonne
Location: Ex-works United States
Timing: 45 days
Unit: % payable of LME nickel cash price
Payment terms: Letter of credit, current price month
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays 4-5pm EST
Notes: Total cobalt and nickel content to be 18-38% min/max. Material with impurities above 2% but not exceeding 5% for aluminium and copper may be accepted dependent on liquidity levels and reporter’s discretion

Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw USA, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)
Quality: Nickel and cobalt-rich black mass composed with metal content of 15-25% nickel, 3-13% cobalt, max 2% aluminium, max 2% copper, max 5% fluorine, max 1% iron
Quantity: min 1 tonne
Location: Ex-works United States
Timing: 45 days
Unit: % payable of Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price, in whs Rotterdam (low-end)
Payment terms: Letter of credit, current price month
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays 4-5pm EST
Notes: Total cobalt and nickel content to be 18-38% min/max. Material with impurities above 2% but not exceeding 5% for aluminium and copper may be accepted dependent on liquidity levels and reporter’s discretion

These assessments will form part of Fastmarkets’ Minor Metals Physical, Industry Minerals Physical and Base Metals Physical price packages.

Amy Hinton contributed to the writing of this report.

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