Sekolic Builds Rare Earth Recycling Plant in Kingston

Published: Jun 17, 2025 22:03

Save

According to a report on Mining.com, Canadian startup Cyclic Materials (CM) is investing $25 million to build a rare earth recycling plant and research center in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, with support from Amazon and Microsoft.

The company has developed proprietary technology capable of recycling rare earth elements from discarded products such as wind turbines and data center hard drives. In 2023, the company launched a commercial demonstration facility for recycling rare earth permanent magnets using this process. In 2024, the company opened a second plant in Kingston to produce mixed rare earth oxides (MREO).

Last year, the federal government provided CM with a $4.9 million grant to build a demonstration plant in Kingston. The project has now been completed.

The newly constructed Kingston Centre of Excellence, spanning 140,000 square feet, will become the company's first commercial-scale "hub" processing unit. It will commence operations in Q1 2026, with a designed annual production capacity of 500 mt of magnet raw materials, which will be converted into rMREO. These recycled products include critical materials such as neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium. These elements are key materials for manufacturing permanent magnets required in EVs, wind turbines, and consumer electronics.

"With this Centre of Excellence, we are advancing our core mission: securing the most critical elements of the energy transition through circular innovation," said CEO Ahmad Ghahreman. "Kingston is the birthplace of CM and is now the cornerstone of our commercial future."

CM is also expanding abroad, constructing a recycling plant in Mesa, Arizona, US, which is expected to commence production in early 2026.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or to learn more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

Apr 17, 2026 14:38

Ex-China Rare Earth Projects Advancing Intensively, Pr-Nd Prices Driven Up by Tight Supply [SMM Rare Earth Ex-China Weekly Review]

This week, the ex-China rare earth market exhibited a trend of accelerated project deployment and price divergence. Price-wise, affected by undersupply in China, prices of praseodymium oxide, neodymium oxide, and corresponding metals rose notably, while other light rare earth and heavy rare earth prices remained generally stable. In terms of trading, Pr-Nd exports declined, and exports of heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium remained restricted. Ex-China developments were active: US-based USA Rare Earth completed its first commercial yttrium metal casting and established a partnership with France's Carester; Japan launched a rare earth magnet recycling initiative for air conditioning compressors; Brazil's Aclara confirmed the commissioning plan for the Carina project in 2028; Canada's Neo achieved a breakthrough in terbium-dysprosium separation in Estonia; meanwhile, resource volumes in Finland, Alaska, Greenland, and other regions expanded significantly; Australia and the US provided financing for critical minerals projects; China's export controls raised European supply chain concerns; and Malaysian civil society organizations opposed the supply agreement between Lynas and the US Department of National Defense.

Apr 17, 2026 14:38

Apr 17, 2026 13:56

USA Rare Earth Produces Commercial-Grade Yttrium, Plans Major Expansion by 2030

[SMM Rare Earth Outside China] US rare earth producer USA Rare Earth (USAR) has produced commercial-grade yttrium metal through its wholly-owned subsidiary Less Common Metals (LCM). It is reported that the purity of the yttrium metal produced this time is between 99-99.5%. USAR acquired LCM in September 2025 for $125 million. LCM has a metal manufacturing capacity of 1,500 mt/year and plans to increase its rapid-solidification permanent magnet strip casting capacity by 26,000 mt/year in the UK, US, and France by 2030.

Apr 17, 2026 13:56

Apr 17, 2026 12:24

Swedish Mining Project Under Fire Over Indigenous Land Rights

According to Reuters, Swedish mining company LKAB is facing criticism after a report suggested its planned rare earths project near Kiruna could violate Sámi Indigenous rights. The deposit is estimated at around 1.2 billion tonnes of ore, containing about 2.2 million tonnes of rare earth elements, but the mine could interfere with traditional reindeer herding routes. The project is likely to face legal and social challenges as tensions rise between mineral development and Indigenous land use.

Apr 17, 2026 12:24