Majestic Corporation Plc (AQSE:MCJ) founder and CEO Peter Lai talked with Proactive about the company’s role in revolutionising recycling within the precious and base metals sector.
Founded in 2018, Majestic Corporation specializes in sustainable circular economy solutions, focusing on recycling valuable metals from electronic waste. Peter explained the company’s three core sources for extracting materials like gold, copper, and platinum—computer circuit boards, electronic goods, and industrial waste.
Proactive: For viewers not familiar with the company, could you give us a brief introduction to Majestic?
Peter Lai: Yes. Hi, Stephen. My name is Peter Lai. I'm the founder and CEO of Majestic Corporation, which was founded in 2018 and listed on the Aquis Exchange in 2022 under the ticker symbol MCJ. I've been in the recycling industry for over two decades. Majestic is a sustainable circular economy solution provider for the precious, base, and rare earth metals recycling industry.
We recover valuable resources like precious metals and base metals from industrial and electronic goods, process them, and put them back into the supply chain. This way, instead of unsustainable mining, you can make new equipment, new electronic equipment, and industrial goods with existing recycled metals.
Our focus is on the refining of valuable materials from three main sources: computer circuit boards where we extract gold, silver, copper, and palladium; precious metals like platinum and rhodium; and base metals such as copper, aluminum, and stainless steel. These materials are found in a wide range of products like electronic goods, EVs, phones, telephone exchanges, and data centers.
Proactive: Peter, can you explain to us the opportunity in recycling?
Peter Lai: In 2022, McKinsey & Co predicted that the recycling and recovery of WEEE, which is waste electrical and electronic equipment, would grow close to 30% annually, reaching over $100 billion in Europe alone. This does not yet account for the need to upgrade and replace legacy equipment like data centers, servers, PCs, laptops, and phones.
Ultimately, there are two ways to supply the materials necessary for producing goods nowadays. You can mine the material, or you can recycle existing materials that are already in existence and put them back into the supply chain. You can also recycle over and over again without degrading the properties of the materials. Mining leads to resource depletion and is environmentally harmful.
Proactive: How does the current macro situation affect the opportunity in recycling versus mining?
Peter Lai: The opportunity in recycling is booming, more than ever, especially when you consider the macro challenges and the costs associated with opening new mines. It currently takes about 15 years on average for a mine to move from discovery to production. With rising interest rates, stricter regulations, and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, we've seen a slowdown in new mine developments.
This has made recycling not only a more cost-effective way but also a more sustainable option. Majestic is well-positioned to take advantage of this trend with our deep relationships with end users, existing volume, and economies of scale. These processes allow us to recover valuable metals and reintroduce them into the supply chain efficiently.
Proactive: And the opportunity you're seeing in the UK?
Peter Lai: In the UK, it was recorded that 1.6 million tonnes of WEEE were generated in 2022, making it the second-largest producer of WEEE per capita globally, averaging about 20 to 25 kilos of e-waste per person. Despite this, a significant portion of the waste is not properly recycled, providing a huge opportunity for Majestic to provide a circular economy solution, putting this existing waste material back into the supply chain for reuse.
Proactive: This brings me to Telecycle, which would mark a step in that direction for Majestic into the UK region, wouldn't it, Peter?
Peter Lai: Yes. Majestic’s recent acquisition of Telecycle is a pivotal development that enhances our position in the UK recycling industry, particularly in addressing the WEEE recycling segment. This acquisition will allow us to create a more streamlined and sustainable recycling process in a region that produces some of the world’s largest volumes of precious and base metal waste.
Telecycle has been an important affiliate of Majestic, supplying valuable materials to us, which we then deliver to the end customer. With this acquisition, we are now taking crucial steps closer to our supply chain by gaining more direct insight into our suppliers' needs. This will enable us to further tailor and optimize our circular solutions. Once the transaction is finalized, we’ll consolidate both companies under Majestic’s umbrella, creating a more unified and efficient organization.
We look forward to sharing more details on our future plans with Telecycle as we continue to innovate in circular economy solutions. So, stay tuned for further updates.