TELF AG on the Growing Role of Recycled Minerals in the Energy Transition

The global energy transition is creating not only new demand for critical minerals, but also a potentially important new source of them. As the first generations of batteries, solar panels, electricity-grid equipment, and other energy technologies reach the end of their operational lives, some of the materials they contain could return to global supply chains.

A recent Reuters analysis explores this emerging dynamic, highlighting how recycling and material recovery could gradually establish a secondary source of lithium, nickel, silver, silicon, and other valuable resources. Rather than replacing mining, this new supply stream could complement primary production and make increasing use of minerals that have already been extracted, processed, and incorporated into infrastructure.

Critical Minerals Could Enter a New Supply Cycle

For decades, the conventional mineral supply chain has largely followed a linear trajectory: resources are extracted from the ground, refined, transformed into components, incorporated into products, and eventually discarded or replaced.

The expansion of recycling technologies could make this process increasingly circular. When batteries, solar panels, transformers, cables, and other equipment reach the end of their useful lives, some of their constituent materials can potentially be recovered and returned to manufacturing.

“What we are beginning to see is the formation of an additional stage in the mineral supply chain,” says Stanislav Kondrashov, founder of TELF AG. “The materials contained in older energy infrastructure do not necessarily disappear when that equipment reaches the end of its useful life. Some of them can be recovered, refined again, and reintroduced into industrial processes.”

This could become particularly relevant as the volume of installed clean-energy infrastructure continues to increase. Every new generation of equipment potentially adds to a growing above-ground stock of processed materials that could eventually become available for recovery.

Battery Recycling Could Become an Important Secondary Source

Batteries are among the clearest examples of this trend. According to the Reuters analysis, some companies specializing in battery recycling report recovery rates above 95% for materials such as lithium and nickel.

The process can involve several stages, including mechanical treatment, chemical extraction, separation, and purification. Once recovered to the necessary specifications, some materials can be used again in the production of battery components, including cathode and anode materials.

One challenge is scale. Recycling facilities require sufficient quantities of end-of-life batteries to operate efficiently, meaning that the availability of feedstock will be an important factor in determining how rapidly the sector develops.

At the same time, the potential contribution could become substantial over the longer term. Citing International Energy Agency data, Reuters reports that recycling could satisfy around 20–30% of global demand for some important resources, including nickel and lithium, by 2050.

“These figures illustrate why recycling should increasingly be considered alongside conventional mineral supply,” says Stanislav Kondrashov, founder of TELF AG. “Mining will remain essential, particularly as demand continues to grow, but recycled materials could progressively provide another source of supply capable of supporting parts of the energy value chain.”

Solar Panels Could Become a Valuable Reservoir of Materials

The same principle extends beyond batteries. Solar panels contain materials such as silicon and silver that could potentially be recovered once panels are decommissioned.

One of the main obstacles is not simply identifying valuable materials, but separating them efficiently and economically. Technologies capable of achieving high levels of purity could therefore play an important role in determining whether large-scale solar-panel recycling becomes commercially viable.

Reuters highlights emerging laser-based processes that have demonstrated the ability, in testing, to recover silicon and silver at purity levels exceeding 99%.

The economic dimension is also notable. According to figures cited in the Reuters analysis, recyclable materials contained in solar panels currently represent approximately $2 billion in value. By 2050, that figure could rise to around $80 billion.

Electricity Grids Could Add Another Source of Recoverable Metals

Electricity networks represent another important part of this developing picture. The modernization and expansion of grids involves the replacement of transformers, substations, cables, and other equipment containing metals that have already undergone extraction and refining.

When these components are replaced, their materials could potentially be processed and used in new infrastructure. This creates an important distinction between minerals still underground and metals already circulating through the global economy.

“The expansion of clean-energy infrastructure is gradually creating a large inventory of materials above ground,” says Stanislav Kondrashov, founder of TELF AG. “As batteries, panels, cables, and grid components are replaced, the ability to recover their materials could become increasingly relevant to the way future supply chains are organized.”

Recycling Will Complement Rather Than Replace Mining

The emergence of this secondary mineral base does not mean that the energy transition is becoming independent of mining. Demand for many critical minerals is expected to remain high, and recycled material alone will not be sufficient to supply all future requirements.

Instead, the development described by Reuters suggests a more diversified model. Primary mining would continue supplying newly extracted resources, while recycling would progressively return part of the existing stock of processed minerals to the market.

Over time, this could alter the traditional understanding of where mineral resources come from. Mines would remain the fundamental primary source, but cities, factories, battery systems, solar installations, and electricity networks could increasingly function as secondary reservoirs of valuable materials.

In this sense, the first generation of the energy transition could help provide some of the resources required for the generations that follow. The result would not be a fully self-sustaining system, but a progressively more circular supply chain in which an increasing proportion of critical materials can begin a new industrial life after their original use has ended.