Giving Critical Metals a Second Life
Nickel and cobalt supply is dirty, slow to expand and concentrated overseas. Nth Cycle needed to show that a domestic, lower-impact way to recover these metals was real.
Challenge
The clean energy transition runs on metals like nickel and cobalt, but the way we extract them is dirty, dangerous, and geopolitically fraught. Traditional mining is costly and carbon-intensive. Nth Cycle needed to show there was a better way—and make the case for a cleaner, circular, domestic supply chain.
Solution
Nth Cycle developed a modular electro-extraction system—The Oyster™—that recovers critical minerals from low-grade ores, scrap, and mine tailings with minimal environmental impact.
MCG Impact
- Built a narrative around U.S. supply chain resilience and sustainability.
- Framed The Oyster as a breakthrough in clean, scalable metal recovery.
- Amplified CEO Megan O’Connor’s visibility, including her selection to TIME’s Top 100 Climate Leaders.
- Drove coverage around major milestones: opening the first U.S. nickel/cobalt facility and being named to TIME’s Top GreenTech Companies.
- Positioned Nth Cycle as a category-defining force in sustainable mining.
Result
Nth Cycle became a symbol of what the future of metals must look like: clean, circular, and close to home.
