ION study shows positive economics for REE Recycling

Published 17-NOV-2025 14:37 P.M.

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Our recycling Investment IonDrive (ASX: ION) just put out economic studies on its technology being used to recover rare earths from spent permanent magnets.

Today’s announcement was basically ION’s way of showing how it’s tech would perform economically when commercialised through 2,000tpa modular processing plants (that would cost ~US$4.6M to build).

ION showed that each plant could generate the following returns over a 10 year project life:

Average annual production: ~115 t of mixed rare-earth oxides
Post-tax NPV of ~US$7M
Payback period: 2.6 years

Today’s results add to the work ION is doing in rare earth recycling with Colt Recycling…

Colt is one of the USA’s largest and most advanced eWaste recycling companies.

ION signed a binding agreement with Colt to recover rare earths from eWaste back in September.

(Source)

So Colt is testing ION’s tech to see how it fits into ION’s network of recycling plants.

Now, ION has a clearer picture on the economics behind modular facilities… and how a roll-out into a network like Colt’s might look.

We think ION’s work in the processing space is all coming at the perfect time too - with the US Department Of Energy just announcing an additional US$355M in grant funding aimed to “expand domestic production of critical metals”.

(on top of the US$1BN that was set aside a few months ago)

(Source)

We think ION has managed to position itself as one of the companies that could be eligible for funding coming out of the US DOE.

(of course there is no guarantee they get anything)

We are especially interested in seeing what comes from the DOE’s US$500M pool of capital that was put aside for demo/commercial scale plants:

(Source)

ION has already announced a Final Investment Decision (FID) on a battery recycling pilot plant...

ION will have its battery recycling pilot plant ready by “early 2026”.

(Source)

(ION is building its plant with a ~A$3.9M non-dilutive grant from the Australian government).

The plant would be built in Australia but ION’s CEO did say in a recent interview that it will be a “mobile unit” that can be moved anywhere in the world if needed.

The pilot plant will take ION’s tech out of the lab and to a point where it can run demonstrations for potential financiers who are seeking to fund something on a larger scale.

(Source)

Which is where we think the big US funding could come into play...

One of the main reasons we Invested in ION was because of how its tech could eventually be applied to process different materials over time.

We even showed this chart:

(Source)

So it is obviously good to see positive updates on the Rare Earths section of this.

What’s next for ION?

Over the next 6 or so months, we think one (or multiple) of the below catalysts could trigger a sustained re-rate in ION’s market cap:

US rare earths partnership (possibly the most market topical right now) - ION will be testing its tech on e-waste feedstock to see if it can commercially recover rare earths. IF successful, ION’s tech could be rolled out across recycling facilities processing ~40M lbs of e-waste feedstock annually.
Pilot plant build for battery recycling tech - as mentioned in a prior article we did, we think this will be a big inflection point for ION. ION expects to have the plant built and commercially producing by “early 2026”.
EU consortium progress - The consortium has over €3M committed to trying to build battery cells using recycled battery metals from black mass (waste batteries). The consortium is partly funded by an EU grant of ~€2.07M.
ION’s mineral processing tech gets de-risked - ION is testing its technology on “US sourced feedstock”. Any big feedstock supply deal, partnership deal or any strong recovery results could be a big unexpected catalyst for ION.
Application into new markets - ION is aiming to recover copper, gold, silver, osmium and rare earth elements from e-waste (Printed Circuit Boards). Now we have the solar panel recycling tech being developed too. Results from these tests could come at arbitrary times. We could see the market re-rate ION if the results are positive.
Graphite upgrade results - updates on this front came from a recent ION’s announcement. If ION can produce anode-grade graphite from recycled black mass, it could add to the economics of its pilot plant and strengthen the commercial case for a bigger plant.
Testing on EU cobalt deposit - ION has signed a deal with ASX listed Latitude 66 to test its tech on the company’s cobalt project in Finland.
Updates on Livium Binding agreement - ION signed an agreement to test its Deep Eutectic Solvent recycling tech on solar panels, battery black mass, and rare earth magnets, potentially leading to commercial supply and co-location agreements within Australia.
Solar Panel Recycling - With University of Adelaide, ION is testing its DES recycling tech on end-of-life solar panels to recover high-value silver and silicon.