December 12, 2024: Canadian lithium recycling firm Li-Cycle has revealed that it has resumed planning for a battery recycling partnership in Italy with Glencore.

Li-Cycle said on December 4 that the firms had restarted assessing the technical and economic viability of developing a facility in Portovesme, Sardinia, including a concept and pre-feasibility study.

The move comes just weeks after troubled Li-Cycle was awarded a $475 million loan from the US Department of Energy — $100 million more than discussed earlier in the year.

The Portovesme study is expected to be led and funded by Glencore, with Li-Cycle providing technical expertise and support. The project will utilize infrastructure and equipment at Glencore’s existing Portovesme metallurgical complex and deploy Li-Cycle’s spoke and hub technologies to produce critical battery materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt from recycled battery content.

Li-Cycle said the black mass processed at Portovesme would be supplied from Glencore’s commercial network and Li-Cycle’s spoke recycling facility near Magdeburg, Germany.

Meanwhile, Li-Cycle president and CEO Ajay Kochhar said the firm continues to seek “a full funding package” needed to restart construction at its flagship Rochester hub project.

Spoke facilities are where all types of lithium ion batteries are transformed from a charged state to what Li-Cycle describes as an inert product. The resulting black mass is then transferred to a hub, where cathode and anode materials are processed into battery grade end-products for reuse in battery production or other applications.

Batteries International reported more than one year ago that lead and zinc processing at Portovesme could be replaced with a lithium ion battery recycling operation in partnership with Li-Cycle, although Glencore declined to comment.