08:07 AM EDT, 09/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- RecycLiCo Battery Materials ( AMYZF ) and Alaska Energy Metals ( AKEMF ) said Wednesday they signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate the use of RecycLiCo's hydrometallurgical processing technology to refine metal concentrates from AEMC's Nikolai deposit in Alaska.

The Nikolai deposit contains seven critical minerals: nickel, cobalt, copper, chromium, platinum, palladium and gold, the companies said.

Under the agreement, AEMC will supply RecycLiCo subsidiary RecycLiCo US Mineral Recovery (RUMR) with concentrate samples from previously collected drill core, along with assay, mineralogical and metallurgical testing data.

RUMR will test the amenability of recovering nickel and the other accessory metals from the concentrate samples. Following testing, the companies would advance development of a hydrometallurgical processing facility at the Nikolai project site.

"The U.S. is fortunate to have significant critical mineral deposits - like the Nikolai Deposit - but its supply chain's missing link is the lack of domestic capacity in the mid-stream processing segment," said Richard Sadowsky, RecycLiCo's interim chief executive officer. "We are confident that by partnering with AEMC, RecycLiCo US Mineral Recovery can help close that gap."

The companies said the agreement is consistent with the Trump administration's efforts to strengthen domestic critical mineral supply chains.

"AEMC would like to produce refined metal products from our Nikolai deposit on-site rather than having to ship metal concentrate to Asian smelters for refining - particularly at a time when the U.S. is heavily reliant on countries officially designated Foreign Entities of Concern to meet U.S. demand for nickel and other critical minerals," AEMC president and chief executive Gregory Beischer said.