Joint Development and Licensing Agreement will decrease dependency on China for rare earth refining and chemicals
BURLINGTON, Mass., May 20, 2026 /CNW/ -- Nth Cycle, Inc., a critical mineral refining technology company, today announced a Joint Development and Licensing Agreement with Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX:IXR or "IonicRE"), a fully integrated rare earth supply chain developer, to establish end-to-end rare earth refining operations in the U.S. and globally.
Under the agreement, Nth Cycle will work to develop its proprietary electro-extraction technology into Ionic Rare Earths Limited (IonicRE) rare earth recycling and refining operations, establishing the first production pathway that bypasses China for both long-loop recycling to high purity form, and the chemical agents, specifically oxalic acid, they produce to purify rare earth swarf into oxides for new magnet manufacturing. According to the agreement, Nth Cycle's technology will be integrated into Ionic's Belfast facility beginning in Q4 2026.
Oxalic Acid: The Hidden Domestic Dependency on China for Rare Earth Refining
China currently refines 90% of the world's rare earth elements found in ore and end-of-life materials, with recovery occurring during precipitation, a step reliant on oxalic acid, a reagent they produce. This creates a hidden dependency facing all domestic refiners building operations onshore. While that capacity will reduce processing in China, it won't reduce dependence on them to process here.
Nth Cycle and IonicRE: Building a Resilient Process to Underpin Growth of the Western Rare Earth Supply Chain
IonicRE leads western industry in recycling and refining rare earths from pre-consumer magnet swarf and spent magnets. Nth Cycle is the most advanced critical mineral refiner for black mass, and refining technology provider in rare earths, with singular speed and scalability advantages in the supply chain's "missing midstream." Together, the two companies will work to replace the precipitation step in IonicRE's flowsheet with Nth Cycle's electro-extraction closed-loop process, which uses electricity to produce the chemicals--rather than oxalic acid--to convert rare earth recycled feedstocks into high-purity oxides, the solid powders used in magnet metal production.
Unlike conventional refining processes for rare earths, where the precipitating oxalic acid agent is consumed and must be continuously resupplied, the companies' integrated system eliminates that dependency entirely, while regenerating hydrochloric acid for continuous reuse during processing. The result is the most resilient and competitive rare earth recycling and refining flowsheet available, reducing costs, external supply dependencies, and carbon footprint.
"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, CEO and Co-Founder of Nth Cycle. "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 electroextraction platform works across rare earths, nickel, cobalt, copper, and beyond, every application of our system accelerates the critical mineral supply chains our economy and national security depend on."
"Building a rare earth supply chain that the West can actually rely on means confronting supply chain vulnerabilities at every step of the process," said Tim Harrison, Managing Director and CEO of IonicRE. "Nth Cycle gives us a technology pathway that lowers our operating costs and removes one of the most critical of those vulnerabilities. That is exactly the kind of partnership that makes domestic refining genuinely viable."
IonicRE Managing Director and CEO, Tim Harrison commented, "IonicRE are excited to be announcing this partnership with Nth Cycle today, one that leverages exciting technology from electroextraction for precipitation into IonicRE's patented long-loop recycling technology, and 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 which is 60% lower than primary (mined) supply of rare earth oxides. This ongoing innovation will ensure we continue to stay a step ahead on providing not only the highest purity rare earth oxides in the market, but validated materials for western end users."
Nth Cycle's Commercialization
The joint development and licensing agreement with IonicRE follows Nth Cycle's historic $1.1B off-take with Trafigura for mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) and battery grade lithium carbonate refined from black mass. These agreements demonstrate the multi-application advantage of the company's refining solution - the only commercial system that produces the full spectrum of critical metals from ore and recycled feedstock and integrates with any rare earth refining process regardless of upstream separation technology.
About Nth Cycle
Nth Cycle is a critical minerals midstream refining company building the technology and infrastructure needed for Western supply chains. The company addresses the market's structural bottleneck: feedstock volumes do not align with the scale and economics of large, traditional refineries. Nth Cycle solves this constraint with a modular system, dramatically lowering capital intensity, deployment time and emissions to convert industrial scrap, black mass and primary feeds into intermediate and refined products within the nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth value chains. These advancements enable the domestic production and allied partnerships vital to industrial competitiveness, national security and supply chain resilience.
About IonicRE
Ionic Rare Earths Limited (ASX: IXR or IonicRE) is an emerging miner, refiner, and recycler of sustainable and traceable magnet and heavy rare earths needed to develop net-zero carbon technologies.
Ionic Technologies International Limited ("Ionic Technologies"), a 100% owned UK subsidiary, has developed processes for the separation and recovery of rare earth elements (REE) from mining ore concentrates and recycled permanent magnets. Ionic Technologies is focusing on the commercialisation of the technology to achieve near complete extraction from end of life / spent magnets and waste (swarf) to high value, separated and traceable magnet rare earth products with grades exceeding 99.9% rare earth oxide (REO).
IonicRE has also executed a transformational 50/50 joint venture refinery and magnet recycling facility in Brazil with Viridis Mining and Minerals Limited (ASX: VMM) to separate high value magnet and heavy rare earths from the Colossus Project's full spectrum of REOs.
This integrated strategy completes the circular economy of sustainable and traceable magnet and heavy rare earth products needed to supply applications critical to EVs, offshore wind turbines, communication, and key defense initiatives.
For more information about IonicRE and its operations, please visit www.ionicre.com.
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SOURCE Nth Cycle
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