Critical minerals refiner Nth Cycle announced on Wednesday that it will go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. VI (NYSE: KCAC).

The transaction values Nth Cycle at $585 million. According to a Reuters report, the deal is expected to provide up to $230 million from Kensington's trust account and up to $100 million from a common stock PIPE (private investment in public equity).

Upon closing, the combined entity will operate under the name Nth Cycle Holdings, Inc., with its common stock expected to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "NTH."

Nth Cycle's proprietary technology is deployed in a portable system branded "Oyster," which uses an electrochemical process to selectively extract nickel and cobalt from scrap metal, end-of-life batteries, and mined ore. The Oyster system is designed to convert rare earth elements, copper, and battery metals recovered from both mined and recycled feedstocks into industrial-grade inputs for strategic industries. Unlike conventional smelters, which require large centralized facilities and high capital expenditure, Nth Cycle's modular approach allows the system to be deployed at or near feedstock sources, potentially reducing transportation costs and processing bottlenecks.

In March, the Massachusetts-based company signed a binding 10-year offtake agreement with global commodities trading firm Trafigura, valued at approximately $1.1 billion. The deal was previously covered by Mining.com.

"Critical minerals are abundant across the West — but they have little to no commercial value until refined. That single chokepoint has left the United States, Europe, and allied nations entirely dependent on China, which has a tighter grip on these essential resources than OPEC ever had on oil," said Nth Cycle CEO Dr. Megan O'Connor in a news release.

"We've changed that with our modular refining system and are excited to partner with Kensington to scale our platform at the cost, speed, and efficiency Western markets demand," Dr. O'Connor added.

The merger announcement comes as Western governments increasingly prioritize domestic supply chains for critical minerals such as nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements, which are essential for electric vehicle batteries, defense systems, and renewable energy infrastructure. China currently dominates the global refining capacity for several of these materials — processing roughly two-thirds of the world's lithium, nickel, and cobalt and nearly all rare earth elements — a dynamic that has prompted policy efforts in the United States and Europe to diversify sourcing and build domestic processing capabilities. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and the European Critical Raw Materials Act both include provisions designed to incentivize domestic refining and reduce reliance on single-source suppliers.