Li-Cycle to get $375M loan from the US Department of Energy
Li-Cycle has announced that the company and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office, through its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (“ATVM”) program, have entered into a conditional commitment for a $375 million loan.
The company said that the conditional commitment follows “extensive DOE technical, market, financial and legal due diligence” and “marks another significant milestone” endorsing Li-Cycle’s development of the first commercial hydrometallurgical resource recovery facility in North America, located near Rochester, New York (the “Rochester Hub”).
Li-Cycle, an industry leader in lithium-ion battery resource recovery and the leading lithium-ion battery recycler in North America, added that this is the first conditional commitment from the DOE ATVM program for a sustainable pure-play battery materials recycling company and the program’s main support for the lithium-ion battery recycling industry.
According to a company statement, the Rochester Hub is expected to become a “significant domestic source of battery-grade materials”, including lithium, nickel and cobalt, and will be the first-of-its-kind commercial facility in North America.
“Receiving the conditional commitment is a significant step in the lending process and reflects the DOE’s intent to finance the project; however, the loan remains subject to documentation of long-form agreements and certain conditions will have to be satisfied prior to closing, which is currently expected to occur in calendar Q2 2023,” the company said.
The Rochester Hub is designed to have a processing capacity of up to 35,000 tonnes of black mass per year, which is equivalent to approximately 90,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material or 18 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of lithium-ion batteries.
Once fully operational, the Rochester Hub is expected to deliver annual production of up to 8,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate, 48,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate, and 7,500 tonnes of cobalt sulphate. The Rochester Hub is expected to create approximately 270 new permanent jobs and more than 1,000 jobs during construction.
Li-Cycle said it continues to achieve development milestones at the Rochester Hub and is expected to initiate commissioning in late calendar 2023.
During 2022, Li-Cycle received key environmental permits for the Rochester Hub, as well as advanced detailed engineering and construction with leading organizations including Hatch, a global engineering firm, and MasTec, a North America-headquartered construction company.
