Recycling Electronics to Weaken China’s Rare‑Earth Hold

Cyclic Materials, fresh off a $75 million funding round, plans to open a recycling facility in Mesa, Arizona to recover rare‑earths from discarded electronics.

The company is working from an inventory of roughly 2,000 metric tons of expired components — electric motors from e‑bikes, drones, hard‑disk drives, and even medical devices — that contain neodymium‑ and dysprosium‑bearing permanent magnets. These magnets are key inputs for electric motors, wind turbines and other high‑performance applications.

China currently produces about three‑fifths of mined rare earths and controls more than 90% of global refining capacity, according to the International Energy Agency; Beijing used export curbs last year to exert geopolitical pressure. New conventional mines and processing plants can take a decade to develop, so recovering materials from an “aboveground” waste stream offers a faster route to diversify supply.

If the Mesa plant begins operations in the coming months as planned, it will mark a milestone for Cyclic Materials, which was founded in Ontario five years ago. Founder Ahmad Ghahreman frames North America’s discarded electronics as a strategic resource that could blunt import dependence and shorten lead times for critical magnet materials.