Editor’s note: Critical minerals and electronics recycling will be featured in sessions at the 2026 E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference Oct. 26-28 in New Orleans.
A nine-figure deal will give Hartree Partners exclusive access to the lithium carbonate created by a New York state urban mining company.
Binghamton-based Bridge Green Upcycle announced the eight-year deal with Hartree Sept. 21. It gives Hartree, a global energy and commodities trading firm, sole marketing rights to Bridge Green’s lithium carbonate output.
More specifically, Hartree will buy and market about 10,000 metric tons of material per year across all grades. The estimated value of the deal is $500 million to $1 billion, based on current market conditions.
Bridge Green uses proprietary technology that fuses mechanochemistry and hydrometallurgy to recycle lithium-ion batteries. The process extracts high-grade black mass and precursor materials that the company says are more than 99% pure.
“This agreement marks a defining milestone and a significant step toward developing a circular supply chain for Bridge Green,” said company founder and CEO Balki Iyer. “The scale and long-term commitment by Hartree, following a rigorous evaluation process, provides strong validation of our technology and business model. More importantly, this accelerates deployment to support the domestic need for critical minerals.”
That need has led to several federal policy changes, including a ban on black mass exports and a presidential determination authorizing the restriction of critical mineral exports. Cyclic Materials and R3 Lithium are among the companies that have since opened domestic mineral-recovery facilities of their own.
Lithium is among the minerals that the US remains import-reliant, with more than half the nation’s supply coming from overseas. Hartree was among the companies picked as suppliers for Project Vault, a $12 billion federal strategic critical minerals reserve, earlier this year.
“Critical minerals are a key pillar of Hartree’s growth strategy, and securing domestic supply and returning recovered materials to productive use are core parts of our approach,” said Landon Berna, Hartree’s head of battery and critical minerals.
Bridge Green commissioned a facility in India earlier this year and plans more refining facilities there and in the US; the company recently was awarded $1 million from the Launch NY venture development organization and plans a Series A funding round to finance that development. Hartree has also made an equity investment in Bridge Green’s bridge financing round.
The first shipments of lithium carbonate under this agreement should be ready by 2028.
