Photo: Nth Cycle Massachusetts-based critical metals refining company Nth Cycle has signed a 10-year agreement valued at about $1.1 billion with global commodities trader Trafigura to supply refined battery metals. The deal – announced as government and industry leaders gathered in Tokyo for the first Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum – is the largest recycled battery metals refining agreement of its kind. Under the agreement, Trafigura will purchase 2,000 tonnes of contained nickel in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) and 1,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate. The materials will be refined from 12,000 tonnes of battery “black mass,” the shredded material recovered from used lithium-ion batteries. For Western battery supply chains, the scale of the deal is significant. It’s also the largest multi‑metal commercial agreement between a recycled battery feedstock supplier and a refiner. Advertisement – scroll for more content Nth Cycle first commercialized its technology in 2024 at a facility in Fairfield, Ohio. Now the company is planning new operations in South Carolina and the Netherlands to support the Trafigura agreement. The company will …