March(ish) Round Up 2026
We hope you all had a very happy Easter, Passover, Eid and anything else you may have been celebrating over the last few weeks. Here’s what happened since our last round up.
⛏️ Historical records & ownership rows in the DR Congo
Back in July 2025, Bill Gates-backed mining company KoBold Metals signed a deal for mineral exploitation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the rights to mine the Manono Lithium deposit. This deposit is one of the world’s largest untapped hard rock deposits, and which has disputed ownership. KoBold plans to fund digital geological mapping, hire local staff and support infrastructure investments in host communities, and the deal makes up part of broader US aims to reduced Chinese dominance over mineral supply chains.
However because of its colonial past, the owners of the historical records which are key to KoBold’s digitisation campaign and preventing the need for too much dangerous and expensive exploration, are not in the DRC. They’re in the Africa Museum in Tervuren, just outside Brussels in Belgium, a relic of their ~75 year brutal control of the DRC. The Belgian state has argued that it cannot hand over federal public archives to a foreign private company without a formal contract with the Belgian state, and that there is an alternative EU-funded digitisation project underway expected to finish by 2031. These digital copies are gradually being sent to Congolese authorities, who can exercise sovereign control over their use. A case of lingering colonial power still impacting exploitation of minerals and the DRC’s sovreignity to this day.
💰 Big Raisers Crash Out
Veteran startup 24M is instigating mass lay offs and shutting down. They raised a total of $500 million over 13 founding and grant rounds since their founding in 2010 and at one point were valued at over $1 billion with links in companies all over the world, most famously the Norwegian former battery giant Freyr in commercial development of their thick electrode technology. Battery Burn Book published an interesting ‘failure mode analysis’ on the problems faced at the company, citing chasing the wrong market and reactive, not proactive, R&D as key problems.
Ascend Elements has also filed for bankruptcy. They raised $900 million in total, but the decision seems to have stemmed from a government decision to cancel $316 million grant for the Kentucky facility under construction.
This means that of the 3 massive US recycling companies we mapped back in 2024, only 1 is now still going in the same form, with Li-Cycle acquired by Glencore and only Redwood still in existence as it was then. We will probably see more of this consolidation of the recycling industry over the next few years.
🍬 Tidbits
🕰️ Time has announced their ‘America’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2026’ list with many recognisable names.
🌲 Neat interactive webpage on the overlap between biodiverse areas and critical minerals.
⏳ Amprius Technologies has secured a $21 million purchase order for its silicon anode cylindrical cells for light electric vehicles in a Chinese supplier.
🚗 Renault has recalled some models of the R4 and R5 due to a production anomaly at their suppliers plant.
♻️ Metals refiner Nth Cycle has landed a $1.1 billion purchase agrement with Trafigura for nickel and lithium materials, all minerals that will be processed in the US.
🇬🇧 The UK government have invested £18.5 million in UK recycling company Altilium in a grants funding round.
🔋 We came across this open source BESS equipment data base for comparing specs.
💨 Following their announcement with Google in February, Form Energy will deploy the first Iron-Air battery in Ireland to come online in 2029.
🇰🇷 SK Battery America Inc has laid off almost 1000 workers in the Georgia state of the USA, about 37% of its workforce amid cooling EV demand. This plant supplied the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, which Ford cancelled in December.
🧂 Energy price surges are threatening chemical plants in European countries, including the UK. Deindustrialisation of key capabilities like making analine and NaCl may threaten other industries and make places like the UK even more reliant on global supply chains at a political moment where independence is invaluable. This is something Ed Conway has been highlighting for the UK for a while…
🎧 What else we’re reading and listening to
From lab to exit: the Cuberg story with Richard Wang. Deep Tech Catalyst Podcast.
Secondary Energy Commodities. Power Plays podcast, discussing the knock on impacts from the Middle East conflict beyond oil and gas.
The Green Transition needs so much mining - Tech Won’t Save Us podcast.
Solar + Storage: The Economic Core of the Future Grid. Redefining Energy podcast.
📰 What else we covered at Intercalation
The final installment on Deep Sea Mining by Claire.
‘Where are we at with lithium metal’ parts 1 and 2 by Roman.
The Holy Acquisition where we interview the Swedish CEO of Holyvolt, who just purchased Wildcat Technologies.
One for the paid subscribers:
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