Nth Cycle Makes History, New York Climate Week, and More

Short and Sweet for a Swamped September...

Author

Rachael Ferm
October 02, 2024

Hello VoLo Earth Community and happy fall!

After an inspiring and active New York Climate Week, our team is taking a brief moment to regroup before heading to Colorado for our AGM next week. With many of you also attending NYCW and entering AGM season, we know there’s plenty (too much?) fresh content to take in. As such, we will keep this month’s newsletter short and sweet! Stay tuned for regular programming to resume in just a few weeks, featuring a focus on critical metals and mining as well as some exciting news including two all-star additions to our team.

New York Climate Week

Our NYCW week including partnering with Breakthrough Energy, Extantia, and Super Climate to host a 5K in Central Park, which gathered over 200 runners from our extended community:

Later that day, Joe spoke on a panel hosted by Mike Bloomberg. It turns out our Joe was part of the opening act for another Joe you may have heard of, who appeared as a surprise guest:

On Wednesday, we hosted the After Hours for Super Climate with support from our partners at Fluor and Mubadala Capital. It was as packed as the 5K - we loved seeing many of you there!

Thank you to the many organizers in our community who made this week so rich with collaboration and learning, including St. Gobain, McKinsey, SVB, Aramco Ventures, BoA, RMI, GFANZ, Overture, Wellington, HSBC, Impact Capital Managers, CEV, MassMutual, National Grid, Mahoney Communications, BNEF, Blackrock, TD Bank, VCA, Union Square Ventures, Caprock, Congruent and Energize. In no particular order, but simply chronological across the week, we appreciate you all. It was an extra treat to attend the one and only Jigar Shah’s 50th birthday celebration. To Jigar and all at the LPO - a sincere thank you for all that you do.

We walked away deeply encouraged by a palpable shift in focus away from the theoretical and into the tactical, a rising focus on the maturing energy transition capital stack, and general sense that, political and market cycles aside… the ship has sailed and there is no turning back.

Overall takeaway however? We have a lot more to do.

Extra shoutout to Kareem, who flew first thing in the morning from Climate Week into Pittsburgh, where he not only officiated one of our CEO’s weddings but… believe it or not… a wedding between two of our CEOs. Congratulations to David Bromberg, CEO of Pearl Street, and Lauren Kuntz, CEO of Gaiascope - we wish you eternal interconnection 😉 

By the power vested in Kareem by the state of Pennsylvania….

Thank you again to all who attended our events and included us in yours. We sincerely look forward to the collaboration ahead.

To those of you we will see for our AGM in Colorado next week, we can’t wait! The colors are starting to turn in the mountains…

PORTFOLIO

To use Global Mining Review’s words, Nth Cycle, “the globally recognized critical metal refining company, has made history as the first company in the United States to produce premium nickel cobalt MHP - a mandatory component for multiple clean-energy, consumer and defense markets.”

On September 9th, Nth Cycle cut the ribbon on its groundbreaking facility. The team continues to move at an extraordinary pace towards their vast ambition. As Megan O’Connor, co-founder and CEO summarizes, “In less than 12 months, we’ve installed and operationalized our state-of-the-art Oyster system, creating the first commercial domestic source of high-quality nickel and cobalt MHP from scrap.”

The Department of Energy has identified refining as the biggest gap in the lithium-ion battery supply chain, but until now, the U.S. lacked domestic refining capability, with 85% of critical metal refining done in China. Megan highlights Nth Cycle’s transformational role in this dynamic: “This system not only helps to end decades of U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains, but also sets a new standard for modular, sustainable, high-purity critical metals production.”

Nth Cycle’s fundamentally nimble approach introduces a paradigm shift to the problem and opportunity of metal refining. The Oyster system at the Ohio facility processes 3,100 tonnes of scrap per year, yielding 900 tonnes of MHP- for context, this is sufficient for over 22 million cell phone batteries. The Oyster system also also enables partners to test the system’s efficiency before co-locating, bypassing the need for lengthy permitting and expensive standalone plants, while also cutting transportation, time, costs, emissions, and waste. Meanwhile, Nth Cycle’s electro-extraction technology uses electricity, enabling >90% reduction in emissions compared to traditional mining methods.

The facility launch was commemorated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, attended by Congressmen, US DoE representatives, various Mayors and State Representatives, and of course, our own Robert Harding (Burr):

Making Abundant Biomass Accessible

Loamist was selected into Breakthrough Energy Fellow’s fourth cohort. As BEV puts it, “Our latest Cohort brings together 25 extraordinary innovators from four countries, who are leading 14 groundbreaking projects aimed at tackling the world’s most pressing climate challenges.”

We are so excited for the Loamist team to be recognized in this short list of global innovators, and for the acceleration and support that Breakthrough will provide.

The Operating System for Concrete

AICrete announced its recent $5M financing, which will help scale its AI-powered operating system, AICreteOS, to customers and allow for the launch of it's new AI-powered hardware sensor.

AICrete is the only AI-powered operating system to service the 13 billion cubic yards of concrete produced each year - the potential to revolutionize the cost and carbon impact of such a critical component of our global economy and day-to-day environments is massive.

Commercializing Solid-State Batteries

With ION’s continued progress, the artcile states that “more, and more, though, the solid-state vision looks less like a blurry mystical relic and more like a concrete point on visible on the horizon.”

Congratulations to ION for the continuously increasing recognition as a leader in this groundbreaking frontier of the energy transition.

Transforming Lithium-Ion Production

Sylvatex is awarded a $2.3M RAMP grant from the California Energy Commission as the “highest scoring awardee”.

The funds will be utilized to support installation of Sylvatex’s first pilot line in Alameda, California.