By Jeffrey A. Newman Esq
Cyclic Materials, a Toronto based startup company has developed a method of recycling end of life products including car parts, and e-scrap to recover and refine rare earth minerals including neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium. To that end, the company is looking to establish North American hubs in Kingston, Ont., and Arizona later this year, which it projects will be able to process 500 tonnes of magnet-rich feedstock and 25,000 tonnes of end-of-life components per year, respectively.
The company inputs include electric‑vehicle motors, wind‑turbine generators, MRI machines, AI/data‑center hard drives, e‑scooters, and other magnet‑containing e‑waste and industrial magnet scrap. They also take production by‑products from magnet manufacturers such as Vacuumschmelze (VAC), plus magnet waste from partners like Lime (e‑scooters) and Sims Lifecycle Services (ITAD/e‑scrap.
Devices are mechanically processed to expose and separate magnet‑bearing components without smelting, which preserves other metals (aluminum, copper, steels) for additional recovery. Their proprietary Mag‑Xtract (part of the broader MagCycle technology) mechanically isolates permanent magnets from mixed device scrap at industrial scale. Output from this stage includes: separated magnets, plus streams of aluminum, copper, nickel, cobalt, mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), and clean ferrous fractions for sale or further refining.
The company’s strategic plan is five to six Mag‑Xtract locations across the U.S. and Canada, feeding one or more centralized hydrometallurgical hubs; expansion into Europe is explicitly targeted. Strategic partnerships include magnet manufacturing: partnership with Vacuumschmelze (VAC) to recycle magnet manufacturing by‑products, creating a low‑carbon magnet feedstock stream.
China has stepped up efforts to consolidate its monopoly over rare earth metals to counter the United States move to form an international alliance with over 50 nations, including India, to secure the supply chains of the precious metals to reduce reliance on Beijing. Rare earth elements appear on the critical minerals lists of many countries.
With important electrical and magnetic qualities, rare earths consist of 17 elements in the lanthanide group of the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium.
They are vital in microchips, which are crucial for almost every sector from defence to healthcare.
Other uses include:
Lanthanum – rechargeable batteries
Yttrium – laser technology used in communications and medical procedures
Neodymium – permanent magnets for electric vehicles and renewable energy
Australia is the leading producer of iron ore, gold, zinc, nickel, cobalt, and lithium, whilst Indonesia accounts for half of the global production of nickel.
Jeffrey Newman, JD MBA, is a whistleblower lawyer whose national firm in Boston represents whistleblowers of violations of export controls, tariff evasions, money laundering, healthcare fraud and other kinds of WB cases. The firm represents individuals both in the United States and from other countries. Mr. Newman and his staff also represent physicians who become whistleblowers in major healthcare fraud cases. Whistleblower laws in the U.S. allow individuals anywhere with information about export control violations or tariff fraud to reveal the information under The False Claims act or through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Whistleblower Program. The Firm’s website is at www.JeffNewmanLaw.com and attorney Newman can be reached at Jeff@Jeffnewmanlaw.com or at 978-880-4758. FOR OTHER ARTICLES LIKE THIS and WHISTLEBLOWER INFO PLEASE SEE http://JeffNewmanLaw.com
