Technology Minerals said its 48.25%-owned battery recycling business, Recyclus Group, received final regulatory clearance from the UK’s Environment Agency (EA) to commence operations at its lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Wolverhampton, England.
Recyclus has also gained Approved Battery Treatment Operator status by the Agency. This allows it to commence recycling operations of lithium-ion batteries immediately.
The EA permit allows Recyclus a daily storage limit of 140 m3 (c.100 tonnes) and to process up to 22,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries per annum. It is expected that 8,300 tonnes will be processed in the first year.
The company said the approval was a major milestone as it is the first industrial scale plant in the UK with the capability to recycle lithium-ion batteries.
Recyclus is aiming to increase the UK processing capability to around 50,000 tonnes per annum through the construction of five more lithium-ion recycling plants. A company source said the locations are yet to be decided. Recyclus can accept the five key lithium-ion chemistries for recycling and processing into black mass, she said.
There is demand from across industries to process lithium-ion batteries used across many applications such as vape, handhelds to e-bike, automotive, industrial and train batteries.
Robin Brundle, Chairman of Technology Minerals, said: “Given the global shift towards electrification and the growing demand for Li-ion batteries, we believe we have a compelling first mover advantage in this burgeoning market.”
