Glencore Secures Long-Term Offtake With ACE Green for Recycled Battery Materials

By Yusuf Khan

Diversified mining firm Glencore PLC is looking to acquire recycled materials from batteries, after it secured an offtake agreement with Houston-based battery-recycling startup ACE Green Recycling for recycled lead and other battery products.

Glencore said Monday it will take 100% of ACE's products from four of the start-up's planned lead-acid and lithium-ion battery recycling parks being built in the United States, India and Thailand as part of a 15-year agreement.

The four parks are expected to be completed by 2024, and once operational are set to cumulatively produce 1.6 million tons of recycled metals containing lead, lithium, nickel and cobalt.

ACE Green in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires said its battery recycling system is based on its proprietary emissions-free technology that uses a modular approach, where recycling modules can be set up back to back to break down lithium, lead-acid and metal scrap into component parts. Through this process, ACE said it has recovery rates of 99% and 98% for lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries, respectively.

Glencore meanwhile has its eyes on being a net-zero company by 2050 and has shorter goals of a 50% reduction in emissions by 2035 compared to 2019 levels and a 15% reduction by 2026.

ACE's first lithium-ion battery recycling facility is due to start later this month in Ghaziabad, India where it will recycle various battery chemistries common in electric vehicles.

"To safeguard a greener future, we need to create sustainable and localized circular supply chain solutions to ensure these critical battery materials are available indefinitely," said Nishchay Chadha, co-founder and Chief Executive of ACE in a statement.

Write to Yusuf Khan at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 05, 2022 06:14 ET (11:14 GMT)

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