Hi Kingpins.
I'll try my best to answer your questions, please forgive me as I'm no expert.
"I do believe that recycling is a necessity but does RIL have some outstanding method to achieve this ?"RIL has the same tech that NMT is using, so I can only go off their figures. At the moment RIL is just aiming to construct shredding plants (Stage 1) to produce black mass. The real money is in the hydrometrical refinery (Stage 2) that can produce battery grade chemicals. That would be the next step for RIL.
I'm not sure if it's a full breakdown of every mineral but below is a basic graph from NMT. It shows that depending on the battery chemicals being processed, most Stage 1 plants will break even. It's not until a Stage 2 plant is built to refine the black mass that RIL has a chance to make the real money.
NEOMETALS LTD (ASX:NMT) - Ann: Primobius - 50tpd Hub Engineering Cost Study Results, page-1 - HotCopper | ASX Share Prices, Stock Market & Share Trading Forum
NMT has a Stage 1 demonstration plant in Germany that can showcase the tech to interested parties. It's technically a commercial plant as it processes scrap batteries from several car manufactures in Germany. The Stage 2 component has been disassembled for now. Probably because NMT just wants to sell plants & licences & not actually recycle the black mass, which I imagine requires multiple off take partners to purchase the assortment of battery grade chemicals.
NMT/Primobius have built a plant (Stage 1 & Stage 2) for Mecedes Benz (MB) & are currently 3 years into a 5 year R&D collaboration.
Process & Technology - Primobius
Products - PrimobiusIn response to your other question.
"Has there been any pressure put on governments to force the initial manufacturers and miners to subsidize the costs of recycling? --- ie :- a tax"It's actually the other way around, the EU wants to force cell manufacturers to use recycled content in their new batteries. In other words, old batteries will have to be recycled to make new batteries. That's shown in the slide below from RIL.
That slide comes from the below ann & it's full & valuable information.
REDIVIUM LIMITED (ASX:RIL) - Ann: Investor Presentation, page-1 - HotCopper | ASX Share Prices, Stock Market & Share Trading ForumThe EU has also blocked the export of black mass to keep these critical minerals inside the EU in order to recycle them.
Battery-related waste codes update set to boost circular economy - European Commission
There are a number of entities on the ASX looking to use new recycling methods to recycle batteries in the EU. As with any tech it can change & so will batteries other years. Who will end beating the competition is anyone's guess, but being able to secure a market share is critical. That's what RIL aims to achieve.
RIL is looking to build its first plant in the UK & has already secured an offtake partner for the black mass.
REDIVIUM LIMITED (ASX:RIL) - Ann: Binding term sheet for off take, page-1 - HotCopper | ASX Share Prices, Stock Market & Share Trading Forum
"There is a theory that nothing in this world ever completely disappears but just changes shape/composition, and stays with us, so future populations are going to be buried in waste if we don't fix"I would have to agree with you on that point above.
I believe
battery recycling is the future as all these batteries will have to be recycled at some point, even if governments don't force cell manufactures or battery consumers to do so. It's just common sense. Batteries are a fire hazard & will need to disposed of in an environmentally friendly way, so future generations can have the ability to thrive in this world without living in our waste.
Batteries can be recycled over & over again, so
imagine a world where all the batteries in existence are recycled. You would never need to mine lithium, nickel or manganese again. Of course that's in a distance future, many decades or hundreds of years away, but I think it's possible.
(20min delay)