Socal Skies Roar As Anduril Industries Revolutionary Fighter Jet Completes Historic Semi-Autonomous First Flight
The skies above Southern California echoed with the roar of engines as Anduril Industries’ …
03. November 2025
Descycle Crowned Best In Metal Recycling With Prestigious 2025 Mining Tech Award
DEScycle Wins Top Honors at 2025 Mining Technology Excellence Awards
In a significant recognition of its innovative metal recycling technology, DEScycle has emerged as the winner of the Research and Development (Hydrometallurgical Innovation) and Environmental (Circular Decarbonization) awards in the 2025 Mining Technology Excellence Awards. This prestigious award acknowledges the company’s groundbreaking work in transforming deep eutectic solvent (DES)-based metal recycling technology from academic research to industrial-scale application.
DEScycle’s pioneering approach involves using deep eutectic solvents to rapidly and selectively recover high-value metals from a variety of feedstocks, including electronic waste, rare earth magnets, and complex primary ores. By leveraging the unique properties of deep eutectic solvents, the company has developed a modular, capital-light design that enables local deployment co-located with upstream recyclers.
This innovative approach offers several key advantages over traditional metal recycling methods. Firstly, DEScycle’s technology achieves rapid recovery of high-value metals at low temperatures and ambient pressure, reducing energy consumption by up to 90% compared to smelting. Secondly, the process eliminates hazardous liquid waste streams and airborne particulates, making it a more environmentally friendly option.
The company’s contribution lies in converting deep eutectic solvent chemistry from an academic concept into a robust, engineered process that holds up under continuous operation. By addressing materials-of-construction questions, demonstrating reliable kinetics and solvent recovery, and mapping a scale-up route, DEScycle has reached TRL6 (Technical Readiness Level 6), secured patent protection over the recovery process, and secured significant funding.
DEScycle’s platform has been validated on multiple feedstocks beyond printed circuit boards and server boards, including lithium-ion battery black mass, rare earth magnets, photovoltaic panels, and complex primary ores and concentrates. This adaptability opens avenues across critical raw materials and positions the technology as an ionometallurgical route.
Strategic relationships with Cisco and Mitsubishi reinforce the industrial relevance of this approach, while the first demonstration plant in Teesside, UK—targeted for commissioning in Q2 2026—marks the next step to TRL7 (Technical Readiness Level 7) and commercial readiness.
The Environmental award for DEScycle recognizes measured reductions in energy use and emissions, coupled with the elimination of hazardous outputs typical of high-temperature routes. By operating at low temperatures and ambient pressure, the process can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% versus smelting.
Regulatory alignment has been considered from the outset, with the process avoiding hazardous acids and cyanide, removing high-temperature steps, and being compatible with REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) requirements. This reduces the need for costly neutralization systems and mitigates risks of toxic gas release.
The planned first plant in North East England is expected to create local jobs and serve as a replicable blueprint for expansion to the US and Japan, according to the company’s roadmap, offering a path to scale that matches policy drivers in the UK and EU for circular economy and critical raw materials.
DEScycle transforms e-waste into a geo-secure, low-carbon supply of critical metals—without smelters, billion-dollar capex, or high energy demand. The company addresses a broken $100bn market where 80% of metals are currently lost, enabling nations and industries to reshore critical metals production, build resilient supply chains, and cut carbon and toxic emissions.
With its capital-light technology integrating into the upstream recycling market, DEScycle offers a secure in-country recycling service, reducing reliance on global supply chains. The company’s route-to-market is secured through a JV with UK e-waste recycler GAP Group, backed by strategic investments from Cisco, Mitsubishi Corporation, and global leaders in the metals industry.
DEScycle’s win at the 2025 Mining Technology Excellence Awards marks a significant milestone in its journey to transform metal recycling. By leveraging deep eutectic solvents and developing a modular, capital-light design, the company has established itself as a leader in the field of hydrometallurgical innovation.
As DEScycle continues to scale up its technology, it is poised to make a significant impact on the global supply chain, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting circular economy practices. With its commitment to reshoring recycling capacity, building secure, low-carbon supply chains for critical materials, and eliminating hazardous liquid waste streams, DEScycle is well-positioned to become the world’s cleanest and most scalable metals processor.
Website: https://www.descycle.com/