Overview
Demand for the batteries necessary for clean energy technologies is expected to skyrocket in the coming decades, and analysts are already questioning if supply will be able to keep up. The problem is exacerbated by supply chain issues, with China controlling 40 percent of the world’s lithium battery supply.
Miners and battery manufacturers are setting ambitious goals to keep up with demand, but there’s another option many overlook: recycling and upcycling. Analysts project the lithium-ion battery capacity could reach 5,500 gigawatt-hour by 2030, up five-fold from 2021. Every watt-hour will eventually need recycling, whether right away or at the end of its life. Battery recycling is included in the US government’s National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries, as it strengthens the entire domestic supply chain. Innovative recycling technologies are emerging to feed end-of-life batteries and production waste back into the manufacturing process, creating new opportunities for investors to capitalize on the electrification revolution.
RecycLiCo Battery Materials (TSXV:AMY) is a critical metals company focusing on upcycling and recycling lithium-ion battery waste and end-of-life batteries into high-value battery cathode materials. The company has innovated a closed-loop RecycLiCo™ Patented Process to extract materials for direct integration into the re-manufacturing of new lithium-ion battery materials.
RecycLiCo’s pilot plant has already tested samples of black mass (end-of-life batteries) and production scrap from multiple third parties and has proven the production of high-purity lithium and precursor cathode active material (pCAM).
The conventional supply chain for battery metals is complex, requires significant global transportation, and is linearly dependent on new raw materials. RecycLiCo’s technology sidesteps this complex supply chain by processing production scrap and end-of-life batteries to provide the high value and specifically engineer materials manufacturers require, closing the supply chain loop. The RecycLiCo™ Patented Process requires minimal processing steps and provides more than 99 percent extraction of lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese.
Testing of RecycLiCo’s demonstration plant resulted in producing bulk quantities of battery-grade lithium carbonate from an industrial feed of cathode scrap. designed with a 500 kg/day processing capacity of waste battery materials. The demonstration plant is intended to test scaled-up operating conditions to achieve optimum process configuration and commercial plant design. The company’s business model is to license its technology and engage in joint ventures with strategic partners that can co-locate the recycling technology alongside the manufacturer’s facility, eliminating the need for additional transportation.
The company has achieved 163 percent of the demonstration plant’s designed processing capacity of 500 kg/day for lithium-ion battery cathode scrap. The demonstration plant’s leach section of its technology has also achieved more than 99 percent extraction of lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from lithium-ion battery production scrap. Recently, the company also reported that it has delivered samples of its battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide to
battery manufacturers in Japan and South Korea for a technical review of the lithium products and to explore potential business partnership opportunities.
Management Team
Zarko Meseldzija - Chief Executive Officer and Director
Zarko Meseldzija has a range of industry experience with a deep insight into project management, process development projects, and circular economy strategies. Meseldzija holds a BSc. in Mining Engineering from the University of Alberta and obtained his MBA from the Beedie School of Business.
Andris Kikauka - Director
Andris Kikauka is a graduate of Brock University, St. Catharines, Ont., with an Honors Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences. He is a member of the Geological Association of Canada, and is registered in the Province of British Columbia as a professional geoscientist. Kikauka has practiced his profession for thirty-five years in precious and base metal exploration in the Cordillera of Western Canada, working for Anaconda Canada Exploration (1980-1984), Skyline Explorations, Inel Resources, Gulf International Minerals (1985-1989); in South America working for Carson Gold (1990); in Mexico and Guatemala working mineral exploration projects for Francisco Gold and Almaden Minerals (1996-2006); and for three years in uranium exploration in the Canadian Shield working for Rayrock Mines and Uran-Canada (1977-1979).
Ed Skoda - Director
Edward Skoda obtained a diploma in mining engineering technology from the Haileybury School of Mines in Ontario in 1971 and a diploma in business management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 1979. Skoda has more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry, in which time he has worked on many national and international projects. During the past 15 years, Skoda has worked as a consultant and in a supervisory capacity as a shift boss, superintendent or project manager for various mining and exploration companies. Based out of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Skoda oversees all Mexico operations for SJ Geophysics Ltd.
Paul Hildebrand - Chairman of the Board
Paul Hildebrand is associate counsel at Lidstone & Company. He is the head of the law firm’s litigation department. He won the Gold Medal in law at the University of British Columbia in 1980. Hildebrand has a doctorate in economics in addition to his law degree and master of science in mathematics. For nearly 29 years, Hildebrand has practiced law in the area of complex litigation, including a 12-year stint with McAlpine & Company, one of the leading complex litigation firms in Canada. He is responsible for the conduct of our local government clients’ litigation matters, including defense of claims, insurance matters, suing other parties, injunctions, appeals, and other litigation-related matters. He also has expertise in arbitration, mediation and conciliation. He has done securities work, including financings for public and private companies and real estate transactions.
Shaheem Ali BBA - Chief Financial Officer and Director
Shaheem Ali is a finance and business management professional with 10 years of experience in operations management, full cycle accounting, systems development, and people management. He has a proven record of implementing financial and operational processes, reducing operations costs, and improved internal controls with Alderwoods Group Inc., where his experience includes governance and regulatory fund compliance with various states.
Teresa Piorun - Senior Corporate Officer
Teresa Piorun has been with the Reaugh Group of Companies for thirty years. Piorun is a senior corporate officer with wide-ranging responsibilities, serving as a focal point for communication with the board of directors, senior management, and the company’s shareholders, and she occupies a key role in the administration of critical corporate matters. She is the confidant and advisor to the CEO and other members of senior management, particularly on corporate governance affairs.
Jochen Rudat - Advisor
Jochen Rudat has an illustrious background and reputation in the electric vehicle industry. He has spent 10 years working under Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, where he helped launch Models S, 3, X and Roadster in Europe. Rudat was hired by Elon Musk to build a sales and marketing force in Europe that grew to nearly 300 employees during his tenure. Before Tesla, Rudat worked for several prominent car manufacturers such as BMW, Kia and Porsche. Most recently, he served as chief sales officer at Italian luxury carmaker Automobili Pininfarina to launch its electric hypercar, Battista. Moreover, Rudat is the founder of Electric Ventures, a consultancy service focused on investments in sustainable transport.
Shailesh Upreti - Advisor
Shailesh Upreti will lead an initiative to establish a lithium-ion battery giga-factory in New York.
Upreti is a well-respected lithium-ion technology expert and inventor of multiple breakthrough technologies. An IIT Delhi graduate, Upreti has worked closely with Professor Stan Whittingham in the past and holds multiple US patents and their foreign equivalents in more than 30 countries. In addition to his technical degree, he has a second masters in international business management in combination with extensive experience as an entrepreneur. Upreti has successfully brought more than five different technologies to market, including one in the material recycling space. His 16 years of extensive experience include bringing new products to market, business development, lithium-ion supply chain & industry networking, downstream processing, and investigating organizational performance gaps. He is well integrated into the global battery industry and serves on various advisory boards. Upreti is particularly adept at defining corporate commercial objectives, business support programs, and achieving organizational goals while bringing new technology to market.
Kurt Lageschulte - Advisor
Kurt Lageschulte is a partner and senior analyst at Broadbill Investment Partners, LLC, an investment firm with offices in New York, Florida and California, and currently has $130 million of assets under management across four managed funds. Lageschulte is a founding partner at Broadbill and was previously employed as a senior analyst with Aspen Advisors from 2002 to 2010. Lageschulte has worked as an advisor and active member of a number of committees. Most recently, he has advised the special committee of the Penn Treaty American Company board in a complex negotiation with industry regulators. His experience in the energy, renewable and mining industries, coupled with significant expertise in the capital markets, will enable him and the Broadbill team to help RecycLiCo reach its goals in the coming years.
David Langtry - Technical Advisor
David Langtry has been a businessman since 1964, when he joined Langtry Agencies, a company that expanded nationally to become Langtry Industries and was sold in 2011 to ITOCHU, a Japanese conglomerate specializing in commodities. Langtry currently owns and operates Raider Hansen Inc., an industrial supplies company having 10 locations throughout British Columbia, as well as GRE Manufacturing, a glass recycling company. He also holds 10 worldwide patents. Langtry has a lifetime of experience in technology and financial markets.
Dan McGroarty - Strategic Advisor
Daniel McGroarty has consulted for nearly two decades with firms in the resource sector, with a focus on strategic and critical metals. He is the principal of the non-profit American Resource Policy Network; a resource development think tank. He has served as a critical materials subject-matter expert for the US Government Accountability Office; testified before the energy and natural resource committees of the US House and Senate; consulted for the Institutes for Defense Analyses, which provides research and analytical work to the US Department of Defense for its National Defense Stockpile reports; and currently serves as adjunct professor at The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. Prior to establishing his consultancy, he served as special assistant to the President in the White House and as a presidential appointee to two Secretaries of Defense.
James J. (Jim) Hahn - Advisor
Jim comes from a career of 40+ years in the Specialty Tool and Fastener Industry. He has held management positions in patented product development, including Powder Actuated Fasteners, Adhesives, and Coatings. Additionally, he has worked domestically and internationally in the development of Concrete Anchoring Systems, leading to successful market introductions. These introductions were attained through independent product testing to meet strict industry codes and final evaluation agency approvals. At Hilti, Inc. he achieved the highest level of sales locally, regionally and nationally. He was awarded multi-million-dollar sales club recognition for his work with a previously poor-performing territory, and was recognized multiple times as a President Club’s winner at national conventions, having set regional and national sales records annually. Hahn received a special award from ITW Corporation for the development of a national training program for certain industrial products. He was a founding member of the Concrete Anchoring Manufacturing Association in 1996. He was a PGA professional golfer after he graduated from college, where he earned an AA degree in Applied Marketing and a BA in Business Administration.
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