The US and Europe have a nickel problem. The precious mineral is used in everything from batteries and missiles to electricity and steel. However, these two regions have struggled to mine and refine it extensively due to permitting issues and waste concerns.
Indonesia and China are the leaders in the refining process. Dig a little deeper, though, and it’s clear that Chinese companies control about 75% of Indonesia’s nickel refining capacity, too, giving the country control of more than half of the world’s supply.
As relations with China have soured, “a lot of companies are starting to look at how are we starting to improve here in the US?” Megan O’Connor, founder and CEO of Nth Cycle, told TechCrunch.
O’Connor’s startup was developing an electrochemical system to refine nickel and other precious minerals, including cobalt, copper, and rare earths. More than a year ago, the company began production at a facility in Ohio that can process 3,100 metric tons of scrap. Now, Nth Cycle has a $1.1 billion deal with commodities trader Trafigura to quadruple that amount.
The new deal reflects a shift in how companies are analyzing their steel supply chains – and how technology can change them.
Today, not only metal refining takes place overseas, but recycling, too. As batteries reach the end of their life, they are sent elsewhere for processing. “These are important resources that we’re exporting a lot to China now. You really don’t want to give up that important and then have to buy it again,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor did not come to this realization alone. Another company, Westwin Elements, operates a small refinery in Oklahoma and is trying to expand with a new facility in Georgia, although it has faced opposition there.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026
Nth Cycle thinks the solution is its modular electrical system. “You can’t translate traditional, centralized refining that works well overseas, to every part of Asia,” O’Connor said. “You translate that here and it costs a lot of money.”
The startup works with recyclers to obtain black mass — a mishmash of metals from discarded batteries — and other sources of nickel such as catalysts from the oil and gas industry. It then feeds it to an electrochemical system that is five to ten times smaller than a conventional refinery. Because the system is small, Nth Cycle says it cuts capital costs, allowing it to make money quickly.
“Our system can operate at a low yield of up to 6,000 metric tons per year,” O’Connor said.
That low number is important. Although there will eventually be a large wave of EV batteries that need to be recycled and their metal refined, it has not materialized so far and is unlikely to happen before the end of the decade. One of the biggest players in the battery recycling space, Redwood Materials, even started a separate division to recycle old batteries rather than recycle them after its teams discovered that the cells had too much life left in them.
For now, O’Connor is convinced that there are enough raw materials available in the US and Europe to supply two new facilities. The facilities in South Carolina and the Netherlands can process a combined 18,000 metric tons. As the composition of materials changes, Nth Cycle says it can adjust its process accordingly.
Other methods, O’Connor said, rely too much on economies of scale to compete with Asian processors, leaving them vulnerable to increased waste. He said Nth Cycle could add modules as battery waste grows.
“That’s how you change and get the capacity to filter here [in the U.S.] – you go with the volumes,” he said.
