R3 Lithium has begun operations at a 154,000-square-foot facility in Covington, Georgia, where it plans to produce lithium carbonate from recycled battery materials for the US battery supply chain, including electric vehicle applications.
The company acquired the facility in July 2026 and is investing to bring its existing lithium carbonate production line into continuous commercial operation. The site previously demonstrated production of 99% purity lithium carbonate from 100% recycled material at production scale.
The Covington facility is designed to process battery manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries on the same site. Its shredding lines produce black mass, which is then processed through a calciner-based crystallization and water-based precipitation process to recover lithium as lithium carbonate.
The facility has 30,000 metric tons of annual shredding capacity and an existing lithium carbonate production line rated for 2,500 metric tons per year. Space has been allocated for an additional 2,500-metric-ton line.
After lithium extraction, the remaining concentrated metal oxide contains recoverable battery materials including nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite. R3 Lithium plans to sell that material separately for downstream processing.
The company says the single-site process is intended to return lithium from used batteries and manufacturing scrap to the domestic battery supply chain without relying on new mining or overseas refining.
R3 Lithium also announced $15 million in Series A funding to support upgrades at the Covington facility. The company has signed offtake agreements for its recovered materials as it prepares the plant for continuous production.
The Georgia site is intended to serve as the first facility in a broader network of lithium carbonate recovery and black-mass processing operations planned for North America and Europe.
Filed Under: Batteries, Technology News