Cyclic Materials to build $82M rare earth recycling plant in South Carolina 

Canadian rare earth and metals recycler Cyclic Materials announced  Thursday it is investing more than $82M to establish a rare earth recycling campus in McBee, South Carolina.  

The new site will host Cyclic Materials’ second US Spoke facility, capable of processing 2,000 tonnes of magnet material, with a planned expansion to 6,000 tonnes per year. 

The combined Spoke and Hub facility will utilize Cyclic Materials’ proprietary MagCycle and REEPure processes to separate and recover mixed rare earth oxides (MREO) from end-of-life products that are typically not currently recycled, the company said. 

Cyclic added that the aim is to enable a resilient, North American anchored source of REEs, which are critical to the production of vehicles, advanced electronics, AI infrastructure, and high-performance permanent magnets used in defense, wind turbines, and advanced manufacturing systems. 

The site will initially have the capacity to produce 600 tonnes of MREO a year, with a planned expansion to produce 1,800 tonnes to meet growing demand.  

Deploying such a facility will enable Cyclic Materials to onshore the production of these critical materials in short order, particularly the much-needed heavy rare earths, it said. The expected 1,800 tonnes of MREO produced by this campus annually would supply REEs equivalent to the material needed in producing 6 million hybrid transmissions per year. 

The announcement follows Cyclic Materials’ agreement with VACUUMSCHMELZE (VAC) to recycle 100% of magnet production byproducts (swarf) generated at VAC’s new manufacturing facility in nearby Sumter, South Carolina, which began operations at the end of 2025.  

Together, the two companies’ facilities position South Carolina as a strategic hub for rare earth magnet recycling and production in the US, Cyclic said.  

“Announcing the opening of our second US recycling site in South Carolina is a major milestone and a clear signal of our long-term commitment to building resilient, domestic critical minerals infrastructure in the US,” Cyclic Materials CEO Ahmad Ghahreman said in a news release.  

“This facility will enable Cyclic to reliably serve partners such as VAC, while scaling our advanced recycling technologies that support manufacturing, creates a secure supply chain for the most critical rare earth elements, reduce reliance on overseas supply chains, recirculate rare earths back to our domestic partners, ultimately delivering valuable economic benefit and environmental value,” Ghahreman said. 

By scaling regional sourcing and processing of rare earth elements, Cyclic Materials is accelerating domestic deployment of rare earth elements supply infrastructure years faster than traditional mining projects, in addition to being much less resource intensive, it said. 

The South Carolina project will also be supported by a range of federal and state incentives. Operations for the campus are expected to begin in 2028, creating over 90 new skilled jobs for the state. 

“Cyclic Materials’ new facility in Chesterfield County reflects the confidence companies have in South Carolina’s workforce and our ability to support advanced manufacturing,” South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said in the statement.