Innovation Crossroads alumnus Nth Cycle is on a roll, this time in the race for domestic rare earth independence
Nth Cycle partners with IonicRE to build the first rare earth refining pathway fully independent from China.
When Nth Cycle came through Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Innovation Crossroads program in 2018, they dreamed of becoming an industry leader in critical metal refining. Seven years later, it’s safe to say they have succeeded.
On May 20, the company announced a Joint Development and Licensing Agreement with Ionic Rare Earths Limited (IonicRE), a rare earth supply chain developer. Together, they’re building what would become the first rare earth refining pathway that bypasses China.
Why does this matter?
Rare earth elements, the specialty metals found inside EV motors, wind turbines, smartphones, military hardware and more, are most commonly refined in China. A chemical called oxalic acid is required to purify rare earths, and China is the primary producer of it. That makes even a domestic refining operation carry a hidden dependency.
Nth Cycle’s electro-extraction technology breaks this dependency. Their technology will be integrated into IonicRE’s facility in Belfast beginning in Q4 2026.
“Rare earth refining in the U.S. has made progress but building a resilient supply chain in the West requires solving every point of dependence, not just the most visible ones,” said Megan O’Connor, Nth Cycle’s CEO and co-founder. “Nth Cycle’s technology closes one of the largest remaining links to Chinese chemical supply chains in the rare earth refining process. And because our electro-extraction platform works across rare earths and beyond, every application of our system accelerates the critical mineral supply chains our economy and national security depend on.”
For supply chain and national security watchers, a closed-loop domestic cycle is impactful enough. But the environmental upside is meaningful too.
“IonicRE is excited to be announcing this partnership with Nth Cycle, one that has the potential to further reduce both our OPEX and carbon footprint significantly. Oxalic acid represents approximately ~50% of our benchmark carbon footprint,” said IonicRE Managing Director and CEO, Tim Harrison.
Building momentum
One could say that Nth Cycle is building momentum, though the argument could also be made that the momentum has been there all along.
This announcement comes just a month after Nth Cycle signed a landmark $1.1 billion offtake agreement with global giant Trafigura, expanding operations in the U.S. and Europe for battery-grade materials refined from recycled black mass.
Back-to-back agreements of this scale signal that Nth Cycle has moved well past the startup phase and into thriving commercial territory. It’s also a reminder of the type of launchpad that Innovation Crossroads was designed to be.
O’Connor shared her thoughts on the partnership on LinkedIn, echoing the sentiments in the press release before closing simply with “Onward.”
With a track record like this, we expect to hear plenty more from Nth Cycle soon.
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