R3 Lithium has started operations at a facility that recovers lithium carbonate from recycled battery materials. The plant in Covington, Georgia, is designed to extract lithium from black mass and return it to the U.S. battery supply chain. The company also announced $15 million in Series A funding.
R3 Lithium acquired the 14,000-square-meter facility in July 2026 from insolvent battery recycler Ascend Elements. According to the company, the site produced lithium carbonate with 99% purity from fully recycled feedstock at production scale in 2025. The previous leadership team remained with the operation following the acquisition.
Annual Lithium Carbonate Capacity of 2,500 Metric Tons
The facility has 30,000 metric tons of shredding capacity and a production line capable of producing 2,500 metric tons of lithium carbonate. Space has been allocated for another line with the same capacity. The new funding is intended primarily to upgrade the existing production line.
R3 Lithium expects the facility to account for more than half of total U.S. lithium carbonate production in 2027. Processing takes place entirely at the site. Battery scrap and manufacturing waste are first processed into black mass. R3 Lithium then recovers the lithium using a calciner-based crystallization process and water-based precipitation.
Offtake Agreements Intended to Support Expansion
R3 Lithium says it has signed offtake agreements worth approximately $1 billion. Additional facilities are planned in North America and Europe. The company intends to develop future sites using a modular approach, with units designed for annual production capacity of 5,000 metric tons each.
Source:
https://www.r3lithium.com/news/critical-minerals-to-the-us-battery-supply-chain
