Ace Green Recycling enters Australia with Enecell offtake deal and circular battery strategy

Ace Green Recycling, Inc., a U.S.-based battery recycling technology platform, has officially entered the Australian market by signing a 10-year exclusive offtake agreement with Perth-headquartered Enecell, a subsidiary of The Owens Group WA Pty Ltd. The long-term partnership secures 100 percent of the recycled lead output from Enecell’s facility in Perth and signals Ace’s expansion into the world’s largest lithium-producing nation. The deal includes provisions for future collaboration on deploying Ace’s proprietary GREENLEAD and LithiumFirst technologies on-site—technologies that could reshape Australia’s battery waste management landscape.

The offtake agreement, which covers more than 33 million pounds of intermediary lead material processed annually at Enecell’s plant, marks a significant strategic milestone for Ace Green Recycling. It builds on Ace’s broader global model of low-capex growth by leveraging modular, electrified recycling systems that eliminate the need for traditional lead smelting.

What is the scope and commercial impact of Ace’s long-term agreement with Enecell in Australia?

The 10-year master offtake agreement grants Ace Green Recycling exclusive rights to purchase all of Enecell’s processed lead output, with built-in flexibility for extensions and future expansions. These may include lead refining, casting, alloying, and lithium battery recycling. The arrangement also allows Ace to match direct end-customer terms, enabling the American battery recycling firm to divert material for its own use in downstream applications.

This move aligns with Ace’s strategy of scaling through feedstock security and capital efficiency. Rather than building new, expensive infrastructure in Australia, the company is embedding itself into an existing and scalable operation while evaluating deployment of its proprietary technologies. The partnership is structured to meet growing regional demand for low-emissions, circular recycling solutions in both lead and lithium battery segments.

According to statements from both firms, the offtake structure also gives Ace the opportunity to address global resale demand for ethically sourced lead materials while securing a potential base of operations to serve the Asia-Pacific market more broadly.

How does Ace’s technology plan fit into Australia’s evolving recycling and smelting regulations?

Ace Green Recycling is evaluating the deployment of two core technologies at Enecell’s Perth facility: GREENLEAD, its fully electric, Scope 1 emissions-free lead battery recycling system; and LithiumFirst, a modular platform for processing various lithium battery chemistries including NMC, LFP, and graphite recovery.

Australia has been tightening environmental compliance requirements on smelters, with some traditional lead facilities facing shutdowns due to pollution and regulatory concerns. This has opened the door for clean-tech alternatives. Ace’s systems, which require less permitting and deliver rapid deployment through containerized modular units, are viewed by institutional analysts as well-positioned to fill this regulatory gap.

If implemented, these technologies would transform Enecell’s Perth site into a dual-stream, next-generation recycling facility capable of handling significant volumes of lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries. This integrated footprint is expected to help reduce the cross-border transport of hazardous battery waste, contributing to Australia’s circular economy goals and reducing the environmental risk profile of used battery processing.

Why is this deal considered a key step in Ace Green Recycling’s global expansion strategy?

Ace Green Recycling has built a global network of modular and licensed operations across Taiwan, India, Armenia, and other emerging markets, with a flagship facility planned in Texas expected to go live by 2026. The Texas site, projected to process 30,000 tonnes of lead and 5,000 tonnes of lithium battery feedstock annually, is part of a wider push to establish regional supply hubs without the cost of full-fledged smelters.

In April 2025, Ace entered a 15-year lead feedstock deal with Glencore, and in June 2025, signed a long-term supply contract with OM Commodities for its Texas operation. The Enecell partnership adds to this growing list of secured feedstock channels, giving Ace further supply optionality and geographic diversity.

From an investor perspective, this strategic partnership also reinforces Ace’s readiness for the public markets. The company is currently in the process of going public via a SPAC merger with Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2025, would see the combined entity trade on Nasdaq under the ticker AGXI.

How are institutional stakeholders viewing Ace’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific battery recycling market?

Investor sentiment toward sustainable battery recycling remains broadly optimistic, especially as several countries in the Asia-Pacific region push to localize battery waste processing and reduce dependence on overseas smelters. Industry analysts have emphasized the potential of electrified, modular recycling systems as scalable solutions that offer lower emissions compared to traditional centralized smelting operations.

Across the region—including major battery markets such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, and parts of Southeast Asia—there is a growing wave of investment in domestic recycling infrastructure. This shift is being propelled by emerging restrictions on cross-border shipments of battery black mass, the increasing retirement of lithium-based cells, and regulatory momentum favoring circular economy practices that keep materials within national borders.

In this context, Ace’s deal with Enecell is viewed as a tactical entry into a regulatory-forward jurisdiction with deep raw material reserves and demand for battery-grade secondary materials. The integrated nature of the agreement—combining feedstock, technology, and commercial rights—allows Ace to control more of the recycling value chain without building from scratch.

What is the long-term outlook for Ace Green Recycling after the Enecell agreement?

Following the Enecell agreement, Ace Green Recycling is positioned to deepen its footprint in Asia-Pacific through technology deployment and direct market access. The Perth site, if converted to GREENLEAD and LithiumFirst systems, would become a model facility for clean-tech-enabled, multi-chemistry battery recycling—something few global players currently operate.

The potential deployment of both lead and lithium systems at a single location also underscores a larger industry trend: integrating dual-chemistry recycling as electric vehicle and grid battery formats diversify. This gives Ace strategic optionality to scale with industry evolution, rather than being locked into one battery stream.

Looking ahead, the company’s capital-light, partner-driven model suggests more such offtake deals or joint ventures may follow in other lithium-producing economies such as Chile, Argentina, or Canada. The upcoming SPAC listing is expected to provide both visibility and capital to accelerate this roadmap, especially as policymakers and OEMs seek partners with low-emission, circular infrastructure solutions.