For decades, recycling was the domain of earnest suburban homeowners and aluminum can loyalists. But now, amid geopolitical scrambles for lithium, nickel, and cobalt, the practice has graduated from hobby to high finance. In the latest episode of The Minerals Metals Initiative, Hugo Schumann—CEO and founder of EverMetal Capital—lays out a vision where old circuit boards and discarded batteries become the building blocks of America’s next industrial boom.
A Clean Loop
Schumann, who also leads Elemental Group USA and manages nearly 50 recycling sites nationwide, describes his company’s goal with the crisp confidence of a fund manager discussing an overlooked asset class. EverMetal styles itself as the world’s first private equity–backed critical metals recycling platform—a title that sounds equal parts MBA dream and sustainability manifesto. The mission: turn the messy business of scrap into a clean loop for the digital age. The same rare metals pulled from remote mines could one day return through collection networks, ready for a second life in electric vehicles, smartphones, and wind turbines.
Practical & Urgent
It’s a vision that feels both practical and urgent. As the U.S. rushes to secure supply chains for critical materials—many of which are sourced from geopolitically delicate corners of the world—the ability to reclaim metals domestically has become less an environmental ideal and more an economic necessity. But to do that, Schumann insists, the nation needs two balancing forces: better collection systems and smarter consumer incentives. Without them, far too many obsolete gadgets will remain in closets instead of rejoining the mineral supply chain.
The Sum..
The episode, titled “Recycling as a Resource: Critical Metals Recycling and the Circular Economy,” runs like a master class in modern material strategy. It’s also refreshingly pragmatic, stripping sustainability of its buzzwords and treating it instead as shrewd resource management—a discipline Wall Street might finally take seriously.
Further Afield: Volato and M2i Global Advance Development of Strategic Mineral Reserve Digital Infrastructure
Volato Group, Inc. (NYSE American: SOAR) (“Volato”) and M2i Global, Inc. (OTCQB: MTWO) (“M2i”) announced (Oct. 16) the next phase of development of the digital and commercial infrastructure underpinning the U.S. Strategic Mineral Reserve (SMR). M2i initiated the SMR framework and technical specifications earlier this year. Volato is now applying its proven enterprise-software expertise to build and operationalize the secure technology backbone that will support critical mineral traceability, contracting, and compliance across the United States and allied nations.
This infrastructure is being developed to serve as the market-facing layer of the U.S. Critical Mineral Reserve initiative, providing miners, refiners, recyclers, manufacturers, and government entities with a trusted environment for physical critical mineral transactions—with verified provenance, end-to-end custody visibility, and regulatory compliance at its core.
Unlike securities or commodities exchanges, this system focuses exclusively on physical materials. It enables direct contracting, leasing, collateralization, and trust-held arrangements between qualified participants, without trading or listing securities, futures, or derivatives—ensuring clear compliance with U.S. and allied regulatory frameworks.
Building on Volato’s expertise in scalable aviation software and real-time asset tracking, Volato and M2i are beginning development of the core transaction and data-integrity systems. M2i continues to lead policy alignment and participant onboarding, while Volato engineers the secure digital infrastructure. By combining Volato’s proven enterprise systems with M2i’s CAINO (Critical Asset Intelligence and Network Operations) compliance stack, the unified team will deliver a secure framework for data exchange, verification, and auditable material movement—creating transparent chains of custody from mine to manufacturer.
“This project represents the convergence of M2i’s critical-minerals strategy and Volato’s track record in building auditable, high-value operational systems,” said Matt Liotta, Co-Founder and CEO of Volato. “Our team is now turning M2i’s blueprint into a working platform that brings transparency and accountability to one of the world’s most strategic supply chains.”
“With Volato leading software development, this effort moves from concept to construction,” said Major General (Ret.) Alberto Rosende, CEO of M2i Global. “This collaboration combines industrial vision with execution capability.”
By combining Volato’s digital infrastructure with M2i’s strategic and operational framework, this initiative addresses one of today’s most pressing industrial challenges: establishing a reliable, transparent supply of materials essential to defense, energy, and technology manufacturing.
This development effort follows the previously announced definitive business combination between Volato and M2i Global, under which Volato will acquire 100% of M2i’s outstanding equity in an all-stock transaction. Upon closing, M2i shareholders are expected to own approximately 85% of the combined company and Volato shareholders approximately 15%. The Boards of both companies have approved the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory review and shareholder approval.
