commodities / consolidation

Reports the Glencore-Li-Cycle acquisition as the consolidation moment for North American battery recycling: Glencore gains a shredding and hydrometallurgical network that it can integrate with its cobalt refining in Norway and copper smelting in Horne, Quebec. Notes the Ascend Elements bankruptcy filing as a simultaneous signal that undercapitalised battery recyclers are failing to reach commercial viability ahead of the 2031 EU recycled-content mandate.

“Glencore's Li-Cycle acquisition consolidates North American battery recycling as Ascend Elements' bankruptcy confirms that undercapitalised recyclers cannot survive to the 2031 EU mandate.”