Closing the loop on critical minerals

TECH

Cyclic Materials secures US$25M to launch rare earth recycling hub

What happened: Cyclic Materials will launch North America’s first Centre of Excellence for rare earth recycling in Kingston, Ontario, backed by a US$25 million investment.

• With 140,000 sqft, the plant combines commercial-scale recycling with advanced R&D

• Cyclic has supply partnerships with Lime scooters, Solvay, and Glencore and counts Microsoft, Amazon, and Jaguar as investors

How it works: Cyclic recovers rare earth elements (REEs) like Neodymium and Dysprosium from end-of-life magnets found in EVs, wind turbines, and electronics. The company extracts and refines rare earths, which otherwise end up in landfills.

Cyclic extracts and refines these materials into recycled Mixed Rare Earth Oxides, returning them to the supply chain.

Cyclic operates a spoke-and-hub model: its Arizona Spoke breaks down magnet-containing waste, which is shipped to the Kingston Hub for final processing. Additional magnet scrap comes from industrial partners.

Why it matters: Rare earths are essential to electrification - they’re used in EV motors, wind turbines, and more - but over 90% of processing is controlled by China, which recently imposed limits on exports.

• Ford was forced to temporarily shut down one of its plants because of the limited supply

Less than 1% of rare earths are recycled today despite the environmental impact and difficulty of mining.

It’s a growing gap in the electrification supply chain - and an opening for Canada. By developing domestic recycling capacity, Canada could position itself as a secure supplier of critical materials for the energy transition.

Yes, but: The window of opportunity is narrowing. The EU recently greenlit 13 new critical minerals projects to reduce dependency on China.

A new report from the Canadian Climate Institute estimates that critical mineral demand could grow up to 90x by 2050, but Canada will need $30–65 billion in new investment to meet its potential.

What’s next: Cyclic plans to open the plant in 2026 with the ability to process 500 tonnes of magnets per year. The hub anchors Cyclic’s long-term plans to scale rare earth recycling across North America and Europe.

Share this story: https://news.climatetechcanada.ca/p/cyclic-materials-rare-earth-recycling-hub

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CLIMATE CAPITAL

🚤 ENVGO (Waterloo, ON) raised a $2.7 million seed round to bring its electric boat to market. The boat, NV1, uses hydrofoil technology for a smoother ride and extended range. The team previously founded drone startup Aeryon Labs, which sold for $265M.

🐟️ DeNova (Dartmouth, NS) closed $7.2 million in funding to develop a microbial protein feed for aquaculture, replacing conventional feeds like fishmeal and soy.

🏦 Canada Infrastructure Bank announced a $100 million partnership with Scotiabank to finance deep energy retrofits across the bank’s commercial real estate clients.

IN THE FIELD

💨 Deep Sky secured a multi-year offtake agreement with Rubicon Carbon for credits from Deep Sky’s Alpha facility.

🌊 Planetary delivered the world’s first independently-verified ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) carbon removal credits, a major step forward for OAE.

🧠 Quantum computing company Xanadu partnered with UofT and the National Research Council to develop quantum algorithms for better lithium-ion batteries.

💰️ Vancouver-based carbon financier Key Carbon partnered with Insoil to help farmers shift to regenerative agriculture across Europe. Key Carbon will invest €3.7 and get royalty rights to Insoil’s loans.

♻️ Lululemon will buy recycled nylon and polyester from Australian materials startup Samsara Eco, which uses enzymes to recycle plastics.

🔋 Vale will move forward with a $325M plant in Quebec to produce nickel sulfate, a key component in battery cathodes, as others dial back investments.

🪨 Canada Nickel is teaming up with Australia-based NetCarb to commercialize their carbon sequestration technology at mining projects in Ontario.

🚌 The City of Brampton and UK-based EV fleet and battery storage company Zenobē are launching as $4B partnership to electrify the city’s bus fleet.

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ECOSYSTEM VIEW

💡 Ideas & Insights

We’re highlighting perspectives across our climate tech community - essays, insights, research and more. Got something to share? Let me know!

🧪 The future of materials is being built in Kingston. I sat down with the co-founders of RXN Hub, a new facility purpose-built to help chemtech ventures scale. We talk about why chemistry is at the core of so many climate solutions, what it takes to cross the capital and infrastructure valleys of death, and their community-first approach to building.

🌎️ Did Web Summit miss the moment on climate tech? Founder and strategist Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber writes in VanTech Journal on why climate tech should have been centre stage.

👨‍🚀 Canada is becoming a launchpad for U.S. climate innovation. Yin Lu, partner at MCJ, shares her observations on why more U.S. companies are entering the Canadian market.

💧 Fighting Canada’s water shortage with fog. Permalution founder Tatiana Estevez writes in Macleans on the potential for fog collectors to re-route clean water to where it’s needed on the ground.

NEWS

📡 Signals & Currents

Ambitious “Wind West” project wins support: Environmental groups are backing the project - with some conditions - to build 40 GW of offshore wind capacity and turn NS into an energy powerhouse. [FP]

EV markets slows, subsidies to return: The feds say they’ll revive consumer EV subsidies as sales drop to just 8.7% of new vehicles. [The Logic]

Alberta’s cleanup rules dent renewables: New cleanup rules for wind and solar are the most expensive in North America and require huge, upfront costs that are hurting project economics. [CBC]

Ontario launches “generational” energy plan: The plan will modernize the grid to integrate clean energy like nuclear and distributed energy while building out energy corridors and infrastructure. [Ontario.ca]

Canada’s adaptation strategy falls short: Prioritization and targets needed to get back on track, even the feds forecast an intense wildfire season. [G&M]

Companies look to the EU for climate direction: Global companies are adopting EU standards as the U.S. lags behind. [Bloomberg]

China solar industry grapples with oversupply: Industry execs are calling on the government to fix overcapacity and save the struggling sector. [Bloomberg]

Amazon plans to cool data centres with recycled water: Data centres are catching heat for their water consumption, which can be tens of millions of litres per year and compete for drinking water. [Trellis]

Clean energy drives $2.2T capital boom: Renewables, nuclear and other clean energy tech are set to attract $2.2B in investment this year, twice the amount for fossil fuels. [Reuters]

COMMUNITY

🚀 FoodTech Frontier 25: A first-of-its-kind celebration recognizing Canada's most ambitious and impactful foodtech innovators. Apply by July 10th.

➡️ Discover more funding opportunities.

🗓️ Startupfest 2025: Canada’s original startup event, this year features dedicated programming focused on HardTech, OceanTech and Impact. July 9-11th, Montreal.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

🧑🏻‍💻 Cyclic Materials is hiring a Principal Metallurgist to support the development and implementation of its rare earth element recycling process.

➡️ Find more open roles.