ASX-listed Ionic Rare Earth (IonicRE) has signed a joint development and licensing agreement with US-based Nth Cycle, a critical mineral refining technology company, to enhance end-to-end rare earth refining operations in the US and globally.

Nth Cycle will supply its proprietary electro-extraction technology for IonicRE’s rare earth recycling and refining operations, thereby optimising ex-China production pathways for long-loop recycling to high-purity rare earths as well as creating the potential to eliminate oxalic acid from the process.

Partnership offers the most resilient and cost-competitive rare earth recycling and refining flowsheet currently available, reducing IonicRE’s operational expenditure and carbon footprint while delivering Western rare earth independence on oxalic acid supply.

Patented technology developed by IonicRE’s wholly owned UK subsidiary, Ionic Technologies currently leads the Western industry in recycling and refining of rare earths from pre-consumer magnet swarf and spent magnets, while Nth Cycle is the most advanced critical mineral refiner for black mass, 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 and alloy 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.

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. This creates a hidden dependency facing all Western refiners building operations onshore, which this partnership between IonicRE and Nth Cycle aims to address.

IonicRE MD and CEO Tim Harrison notes that oxalic acid represents about 50% of IonicRE’s benchmark carbon footprint, which has been demonstrated to be 60% lower than primary (mined) supply of rare earth oxides. "This ongoing innovation [with Nth Cycle] 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 CEO and co-founder Megan O'Connor adds that rare earth refining in the US has made progress, but building a resilient supply chain in the West requires solving every point of dependence, not just the most visible ones.

She explains that Nth Cycle's technology closes one of the largest remaining links to Chinese chemical supply chains in the rare earth refining process, and because its electro-extraction platform works across rare earths, nickel, cobalt, copper and beyond, every application of its system accelerates the critical mineral supply chains that the economy and national security depend on.