What the site does
The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, east of Reno, hosts some of the largest battery and cell manufacturing operations in North America alongside major logistics and data-centre developments. The refinery opened there in 2019 so that black mass and cell production scrap could be refined within a short drive of where cells are made, rather than being shipped across the continent or overseas.
At 45,000 TPA it is the network's largest refinery in the Americas. It receives black mass from US and Canadian campuses, scrap from nearby cell plants and material from third-party shredders, and turns it into battery-grade salts for North American cathode and cell supply chains, with batch records that help customers trace where critical minerals were processed. Sampling and assay at intake set the basis for settlement.
What arrives at the gate
Feedstock at Reno, Nevada reflects its catchment and plant type. Every consignment is weighed, photographed and logged against the originating manifest before it enters the process area.
- Black mass from Detroit, Toronto and other network campuses
- Cell manufacturing scrap from the Nevada region
- Third-party black mass from North American shredders
- Cathode and electrode production scrap
The process, step by step
The 3 operating lines — black mass leaching, solvent extraction, battery-grade salt crystallisation — run the sequence below.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Feed assay & sampling | Incoming black mass is homogenised and assayed by ICP-OES for Li, Ni, Co, Mn, Cu, Al and fluoride before it is released to leach. |
| Sulphuric acid leaching | Two-stage leach at 60–85 °C with peroxide reductant dissolves cathode metals at 96–99% extraction efficiency. |
| Impurity removal | Iron, aluminium and copper are precipitated and filtered; graphite is recovered as a separate low-ash cake. |
| Solvent extraction trains | Sequential Co, Ni and Mn circuits with counter-current mixer-settlers deliver individual metal raffinates. |
| Crystallisation & drying | Nickel and cobalt sulphate hexahydrate plus lithium carbonate are crystallised to 99.5%+ battery grade and bagged under nitrogen. |
| Batch certification | Every batch ships with a certificate of analysis, mass balance and chain-of-custody record for EPR and IRA reporting. |
What sets the site apart
Next door to cell manufacturing. Scrap from nearby cell production is refined without long transport legs.
Largest Americas refinery. 45,000 TPA of capacity anchors the network's North American refining.
Traceable output. Batch records support customers documenting North American processing of critical minerals.
Where material goes next
Material that Reno, Nevada does not finish on site moves to the nearest specialist facility in the network, keeping transport distances and dwell times down.
| Facility | Role | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Fremont — California Diagnostics Works | Cell Grading & Diagnostics | 291 km |
| Gothenburg — Nordic Second-Life Campus | Second-Life BESS Works | 8,309 km |
Field note