Westwin Elements a Solution to Black Mass Export Ban

The United States took an important step toward restoring its domestic critical mineral supply chains with a new restriction on exports of battery black mass.

Beginning August 27, the U.S. Department of Commerce will restrict exports of black mass, the material produced from shredded lithium-ion batteries, as part of a broader effort to retain recoverable critical minerals in the United States.

The policy recognizes a simple but important principle: critical materials already within our borders should be put back to work in American industry.

For nickel, that creates an opportunity that extends well beyond battery recycling.

From Recovered Material to Finished Nickel

Black mass can contain valuable nickel alongside lithium, cobalt, manganese and other materials. Recovering those minerals from end-of-life batteries can supplement primary supply, reduce waste, and provide another domestic source of strategically important feedstock.

But recovery is only one part of the supply chain.

Nickel-bearing materials must ultimately be separated, processed and refined into products that meet the specifications of downstream customers. If recovered nickel leaves the United States for refining abroad, America loses much of the industrial and strategic value created by recycling it in the first place.

The goal should be a complete domestic pathway: recover critical materials here, refine them here, and return them to American manufacturing.

Carbonyl Refining a Solution Recycled Nickel

Westwin Elements' carbonyl refining technology can provide a pathway for converting recycled nickel-bearing materials into high-purity nickel products.

Rather than viewing black mass-derived nickel solely through the lens of returning material to new batteries, recovered nickel intermediates can potentially support a much broader range of American industries.

Carbonyl refining can convert suitable nickel-bearing feedstocks into high-purity nickel powder and briquettes for applications including:

• Defense

• Aerospace

• Superalloys

• Electroplating

• Advanced manufacturing

• Other critical industrial applications

  
  

Recognizing these pathways would help create additional domestic demand for recycled nickel while expanding the strategic value of America's growing battery-recycling industry.

Westwin Elements' Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Dmitri Terekhov, and Chief Operating Officer, John Shelegey, with Class 1 nickel refined in America's only carbonyl nickel refinery.

Recycling and Refining Must Grow Together

The United States already possesses a significant inventory of critical minerals embedded in batteries, electronics, industrial scrap and other end-of-life products. Reuters reports that the country exports nearly 33,000 metric tons of electronic waste and other scrap each month, much of it containing recoverable critical minerals.

Keeping more of that material in the United States is an important first step.

The next is ensuring sufficient domestic capacity exists to process and refine it.

Recycling and refining should therefore be viewed as complementary parts of the same industrial strategy. Recycling recovers the resource. Refining converts it into a consistent, high-purity product. American manufacturers then return that material to productive use.

Building each of those capabilities domestically strengthens the entire supply chain.

More Than a Battery Strategy

Nickel is sometimes discussed almost exclusively in the context of electric vehicle batteries. Its strategic importance is considerably broader.

High-purity nickel supports defense systems, aerospace applications, high-performance superalloys, electroplating, and advanced manufacturing. These industries require reliable access to nickel products that meet demanding specifications for purity, consistency, and performance.

That means black mass-derived nickel does not necessarily have to return to the same application from which it originated.

With the appropriate processing and refining pathway, recycled nickel can become a strategic feedstock for other high-value American industries.

This flexibility matters as the United States works to reduce its dependence on concentrated foreign mineral processing and strengthen the defense industrial base.

Building the Complete American Supply Chain

Restricting black mass exports is a positive step toward ensuring that critical minerals already present in the United States remain available to American industry.

Now we have an opportunity to build on it.

Domestic policy should encourage black mass-derived nickel intermediates to flow toward U.S. refining and finished Class 1 nickel production rather than being exported for value-added processing abroad.

That means supporting the entire chain:

Recover it here. Refine it here. Manufacture with it here.

Westwin Elements is working to help restore that capability by scaling domestic Class 1 nickel refining capacity capable of transforming nickel-bearing feedstocks into high-purity products for American customers.

Keeping critical minerals in America is an important first step. Turning them into the finished materials our economy and national defense depend on is how we build lasting supply chain resilience and create strong American jobs along the way.