Nth Cycle debuts publicly post $585M SPAC merger under NTH ticker
TL/DR –
Nth Cycle has announced a $585m SPAC merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corporation, which will take the critical minerals refiner public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “NTH”. The company operates the first US refinery producing high-purity nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide from recycled battery feedstock and has a 10-year, $1.1bn offtake agreement with Trafigura. Nth Cycle also has strategic development agreements with leading rare earth companies.
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Critical Minerals Refiner Nth Cycle to Go Public Following $585 Million SPAC Merger
Nth Cycle, a pioneer in the recycling of battery feedstock to produce high-purity nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide, has recently announced it will go public via a $585 million SPAC merger. The merger is with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company. After the deal’s expected closure in the fourth quarter, Nth Cycle will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker ‘NTH’, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. The company’s commercial successes also include a 10-year, $1.1 billion offtake agreement with Trafigura and multiple strategic development agreements with leading rare earth companies.
The Journey of Nth Cycle
Nth Cycle’s journey began eight years ago when founder Megan O’Connor relocated to Oak Ridge. She spent two years developing her electrochemical metals recovery technology at the Innovation Crossroads, the entrepreneurial initiative by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This program transformed her doctoral research at Duke University into a promising business venture.
The company, co-founded by O’Connor, has commercialized an electro-extraction technology that recovers valuable minerals like nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper, and rare earth elements from scrap metal, mined ore, and used batteries. This process employs electricity rather than conventional methods that use fossil fuels or high-pressure acid leaching.
“Critical minerals are abundant across the West — but they have little to no commercial value until refined. That single chokepoint has left the United States, Europe, and allied nations entirely dependent on China, which has a tighter grip on these essential resources than OPEC ever had on oil. We’ve changed that with our modular refining system and are excited to partner with Kensington to scale our platform at the cost, speed, and efficiency Western markets demand,” said O’Connor in a press release.
Since finalizing the two-year Innovation Crossroads fellowship, Nth Cycle has achieved several milestones:
- In 2024, it opened a 21,000-square-foot refining facility in Fairfield, Ohio.
- The company secured $7.2 million under the Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit (48C) program of the Inflation Reduction Act.
- A 10-year, roughly $1.1 billion offtake agreement was signed with commodities trader Trafigura in March.
- In May, Nth Cycle partnered with Ionic Rare Earths to build a refining pathway for rare earth elements, independent of Chinese supply chains.
Nth Cycle’s Impact on Tennessee and Beyond
Although Nth Cycle is no longer headquartered in Tennessee, its journey exemplifies the purpose of Innovation Crossroads. The program, backed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), aims to nurture early-stage tech endeavors rooted in research labs and help them scale into sustainable businesses. Nth Cycle’s success story showcases how this type of incubation can propel deep-tech companies to new heights.
Find out more on Nth Cycle here.
More information about Innovation Crossroads can be found here.
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