The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Will be used to develop its Marion refinery, recycling plant Metal Tech News – November 15, 2023
The 425,000-square-foot RCA Thomson plant purchase by ReElement rests on a 42-acre campus in Marion, Indiana.
Purchased in 1946, the RCA Thomson plant was converted into a black and white TV tube production facility that swelled to nearly 4,000 employees. Shuttering operations in 2004, its remaining 990 employees were left without work.
Hoping to reinvigorate its area and promote economic growth in the form of next-generation battery manufacturing, the city of Marion, Indiana, has issued $44.9 million in incentives for American Resources Corp. to construct its state-of-the-art commercial-scale lithium, critical minerals, and rare earth elements refining facility utilizing its ReElement chromatography technology.
American Resources subsidiary ReElement Technologies carefully analyzed and examined several potential sites throughout the Midwest for the location of its second refinery before eventually selecting Marion.
"After almost a year of careful analysis and extensive due diligence, we are excited to announce our expansion in Marion, Indiana for our second battery and rare earth element refining facility," American Resources CEO Mark Jensen said in July.
ReElement found a former RCA Thomson consumer electronic manufacturing plant in Marion with the size and scope to house its envisioned refinery with room for future growth.
"This community lost nearly 4,000 jobs when the RCA Thomson facility shut down, and our redevelopment of this site is an incredible opportunity to become a major hub in the growing electrified economy for generations to come," added Jensen. "The critical minerals refined in this facility will power products as diverse as the electric vehicle on the road to the F-35 fighter jets defending the US overseas. We are excited to have a community that shares our pride in powering America's tomorrow."
At full scope, the prior Thomson plant provides 42 acres with ample area for operations and future development; 425,000 square feet of existing production facility space and support structures; and 250,000 square feet of additional foundation-ready space to expand production facilities or structures for further growth.
Furthermore, it would enable an initial capacity of 50 metric tons per day of lithium-ion battery input material sourced from end-of-life batteries and manufacturing waste, such as those found in EV batteries, power tools, or specialty batteries, and the ability to process a wide range of chemistries including lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) and nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC).
The plant would also offer a complete, domestic beginning-to-end solution for the battery and magnet supply chain.
With a campus being designed to drive collaboration with industry partners, creating a region that co-locates partners in the electrified value chain would reduce costs, maximize productivity and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of any mine-to-market or recycled product.
The former RCA plant also includes rail loadout on site along with 37 truck bays for enhanced transportation logistics, including access to major highways and interstate travel, with a central location to many potential customers within the automobile, battery, and magnet industries in the U.S. battery belt.
For Marion, a city with a population just shy of 30,000, ReElement's battery metals reprocessing and recycling facility offers a foundation that will reinvigorate the local economy, evidenced by the city's investment.
"Our work on the campus will not only transform the physical facility, but also create a legacy impact on the community as well as re-establishing Marion and the region as a preeminent force in high-value materials for the vehicle and technology supply chains," said American Resources President Thomas Sauve.
Along with potential growing community support for the company, its location also grants access to several important educational institutions, such as Indiana Wesleyan University, Ivy Tech Community College, Taylor University, and Purdue University, which can provide skilled personnel seeking to break into the clean energy industry.
"In addition to the buildings themselves, the community possesses all of the key attributes we were looking for in a location including onsite infrastructure and the workforce to be able to further scale our world-leading, critical mineral refining solutions to feed the domestic manufacturing of electrified and cleantech goods," added Jensen. "The size and scope of our facility and its operations will be dependent on working with the city, county, and state on potential incentives to help meet the full scope of the facility, with a goal of achieving over 300 jobs in the long term from ReElement Technologies. The size of this campus also allows us to build the electrified value stack, bringing in both up and downstream partners within the electrified economy. We are also applying for additional federal incentives to further supplement our expansion thereafter."
Showing its support for the potential company, the city of Marion offered ReElement a bond purchase agreement of $44.9 million in local incentives from the city, in the form of an economic development revenue bond.
Investing in its future – with the potential to replace those lost jobs and perhaps to add more, as well as bring in a domestic supply hub to this midwestern state – this bond shows a keen foresight that could see additional benefits beyond what is immediately an uptick in job opportunities.
"This prime location in the Midwest battery corridor offers excellent logistics and knowledge clusters within this critical industry," said Jensen. "We hope to work with all stakeholders to build a robust domestic supply chain and for the future protection of our country by reshoring rare earth and battery refining from China, the country that dominates the market today."
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