Glencore and Li-Cycle Announce Joint Venture to Build Europe's Largest Sustainable Battery Manufacturing Hub

Glencore International AG, a fully owned subsidiary of Glencore plc ("Glencore"), and Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. ("Li-Cycle" or the "Company"), an industry leader in lithium-ion battery resource recovery and North America's leading lithium-ion battery recycle the Portovesme Hub would use recovered battery content to manufacture crucial battery elements such as Nickel, Cobalt, and Lithium.

The Portovesme Hub will use cutting-edge hydrometallurgical technology from Li-Cycle and is projected to be Europe's largest manufacturer of sustainable battery-grade goods.

Within 60 days after this release, Glencore and Li-Cycle will begin a collaborative Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") for this project. The DFS is projected to be finished by mid-2024. The project will proceed to completion once the final investment decision is settled, and the commissioning of the Portovesme Hub is anticipated to begin in late 2023 to early 2027.

Glencore and Li-Cycle intend to form a 50/50 joint venture to remodel a portion of Glencore's existing metallurgical facility in Portovesme to construct the Portovesme Hub. This would allow a more cost-effective and accelerated development strategy. Glencore's competitive long-term financing is also being considered for funding Li-Cycle's portion of the capital investment.

Once the Hub is operational, it is mapped to handle nearly 50k to 70k tonnes of black matter each year, which is equivalent to approximately 36 GWh of lithium-ion batteries. This Hub will be Europe's first amenity of this scope and spectrum.

The black mass-produced at the Portovesme Hub will be distributed throughout Europe via Li-Cycle's growing Spoke network and Glencore's commercial network. The Portovesme Hub will be Europe's first facility of this scale and scope.

In collaboration with both companies' Spoke network and circularity platform, the facility would fetch Europe one step closer to wrapping up the loop of producing scrap and end-of-life batteries utterly in the Eurozone employing hydrometallurgical methods.

Once operational, a combination of the Portovesme site's large existing infrastructure, equipment, and skilled employees, the Portovesme Hub is projected to bring significant benefits to both Li-Cycle and Glencore by enabling a speedier transition to a Europe-based post-processing plant with a low capital outlay.