Microsoft invests in Ontario-based rare earths recycling company

Cyclic Materials has received an equity investment from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, which is dedicated to accelerating technology development and deployment of new climate innovations.

This investment is representative of Microsoft’s commitment to a circular economy and interest in hard drive rare earth element recycling, the Kingston, Ont.-based metals recycling firm said in a release. It did not disclose the dollar amount.

Over the past two years, Cyclic has developed a patent-pending technology called “CC360” to address the challenge of recovering rare earths contained in end-of-life hard drives. While hard drives are typically sent to an IT asset disposal company at the end of life, they focus on data destruction, then shred drives to recover other metals such as gold and silver. Rare earths are left behind.

With Cyclic’s CC360 technology, asset disposal companies can separate a portion of hard drives for rare earth recovery, while retaining the rest of the hard drives for their traditional process, Cyclic said. Its process can unlock additional value from the separated magnets, the company added.

“Microsoft is working to achieve zero waste across our direct operations, products, and packaging by 2030. This means adopting a circular economy approach,” Brandon Middaugh, senior director of the Climate Innovation Fund, said.

“As demand for rare earth elements continues to grow in importance, we’re excited to support the creation of a sustainable supply of these materials with this investment.”

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials aims to develop technologies that can economically, sustainably and domestically transform end-of-life (EOL) products into valuable raw materials. The company recently opened its “Hub100” plant in Kingston, deploying its proprietary hydrometallurgical technology, REEPure, and helping fulfill the increasing demand for domestic sources of mixed rare earth oxide in North America.

Sean Magann, chief commercial officer at Sims Lifecycle Services (SLS), said the company has been working with Cyclic and seen good results, achieving throughput of one hard drive per second.

“This solution enables us to drive further value out of disposed hard drives, by reclaiming the critical rare earths, while maintaining the data security of the hard drives being disposed,” Magann said. “An additional benefit is the reduction of magnets clogging our shredders. We look forward to deploying this technology across our operations.”