Cyclic Materials, an advanced recycling company focused on rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials, announced plans to invest more than USD $82 million to establish a rare earth recycling campus in McBee, South Carolina.
The site will include the company’s second US Spoke facility and its largest Hub facility to date, with initial capacity to process 2,000 tonnes of end-of-life magnet material annually and a planned expansion to 6,000 tonnes per year.
The combined Spoke and Hub facility will use Cyclic Materials’ MagCycle and REEPure processes to recover mixed rare earth oxides (MREO) from products that are not typically recycled today. These materials are critical inputs for high-performance permanent magnets used in electric vehicle (EV) traction motors, power steering systems, and other electrified drivetrain components, as well as renewable and industrial applications.
Initial production capacity is expected to reach 600 tonnes of MREO per year, with expansion to 1,800 tonnes as demand increases. At full scale, annual output would be equivalent to the rare earth material required to produce approximately 6 million hybrid vehicle transmissions, supporting domestic supply for EV manufacturing.
The announcement follows a late-2025 agreement with VACUUMSCHMELZE (VAC), under which Cyclic Materials will recycle magnet production byproducts generated at VAC’s manufacturing facility in Sumter, South Carolina. The proximity of the two facilities positions South Carolina as a regional center for rare earth magnet recycling and processing in North America.
By scaling domestic sourcing and processing of rare earth elements, the project is intended to reduce reliance on overseas supply chains that support EV motor production. Operations at the South Carolina campus are expected to begin in 2028, creating more than 90 skilled technical and engineering roles, with support from federal and state incentive programs.
Founded in 2021, Cyclic Materials develops recycling technologies for recovering critical materials from end-of-life magnet-containing products, including EV motors, wind turbines, robotics systems, MRI equipment, and data center electronics.
Filed Under: Electric Motor, Technology News