Gigamine

Gigamine, established in the UK in 2021, is positioned to address the mounting challenge of lithium-ion battery waste driven by the electric vehicle (EV) market. The company was founded by a team that includes Ben Goldsmith and Ali Erfan as Founding Directors, The Lord Sarfraz as Chairman, and Peter Cowan as Operations Director. In 2022, Jerry Williams, a trained engineer with 35 years of experience in the defence, consultancy, and advanced engineering sectors, including time in the British Army, was appointed CEO to steer the company's expansion.

The firm is developing a process for recycling end-of-life lithium-ion batteries from EVs and other electronics to recover critical materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. Gigamine's business model is centered on creating a circular economy for battery materials, aiming to reduce the reliance on traditional mining and mitigate delicate supply chain issues. The company plans to serve battery and vehicle manufacturers by providing a sustainable and cost-effective method for handling used batteries. This is achieved through a scalable and automated technical approach that includes automated discharge and disassembly of battery packs. The process involves shredding the batteries and then separating the resulting material, known as 'black mass', which contains the valuable metals.

Financially, Gigamine secured seed funding in late 2021, led by the early-stage venture capital fund 7percent Ventures. The round also saw participation from prominent angel investors, including Alejandro Agag, the founder of the Formula E and Extreme E electric racing series. The company's strategy involves building a series of scalable recycling facilities, referred to as 'nodes', across the UK. The long-term plan includes operating six of these nodes and a central refinery to process the 'black mass' back into battery-grade materials suitable for reuse in new cell manufacturing. This network of facilities will be powered by renewable energy, reinforcing the company's commitment to a sustainable operational footprint. As part of its growth, Gigamine has formed a partnership with InoBat, a battery research and production company, to enhance the efficiency of materials recycling.

Keywords: battery recycling, lithium-ion, circular economy, electric vehicles, EV batteries, black mass, sustainable materials, critical minerals recovery, cleantech, green technology, resource recovery, e-waste management, hydrometallurgy, battery materials, sustainable supply chain, automotive technology, UK cleantech, battery manufacturing, cobalt recycling, nickel recycling