PINAL COUNTY DEVELOPMENT

phase will commence, followed immediately by commercial operations. The current expectation is that commercial operations will ramp up in 2025 and continue for a period of 22 years. The mine is expected to support approximately 800 direct and indirect jobs in Arizona ranging from hydrologists to welders.

Battery Powered

On March 24, LG Energy Solution (LGES) announced that it will invest $5.5 billion to build a battery manufacturing complex in Queen Creek — the largest single investment of its type in North America. The complex will consist of two separate facilities, one to build cylindrical batteries for EVs, and another for lithium iron phosphate pouch-type batteries for energy storage systems (ESS). The new cylindrical battery manufacturing facility aims to start mass production of 2170 cells in 2025, mainly for EV makers in North America.

“With this historic investment from LGES, Arizona has become the battery manufacturing capital of the country,” says Gov. Katie Hobbs. “These Arizonamade batteries will power green, sustainable technologies around the world, cementing Arizona’s reputation as an innovation hub for renewable energy.”

In Casa Grande, Ecobat is opening a lithium-ion battery recycling facility that will initially produce around 10,000 tons of recycled material per year, or enough to create recycled batteries for approximately 30,000 EVs, according to Tom Schaefer, vice president of global business development for Ecobat.

“We’re not exclusively serving EV batteries as our feedstock,” he continues. “We’re also supporting ESS applications, which are critical for solar and wind farms. Each of those has either a dedicated or a grid-level battery backup system to store excess energy that’s being put on the grid to be deployed in times of lower generation — at night for solar, or when it’s still for wind power. We’re able to service all those battery types, including consumer batteries.”

Through the recycling process, some materials are lost, but roughly speaking, for every pound of batteries that Ecobat takes in, it harvests enough nickel, cobalt and lithium to recreate another pound of battery. The company is the first step in the battery recycling supply chain, meaning it isolates the useful materials into what’s called “black mass” and passes that along to another supplier that further refines it.

For consumers concerned about recycled batteries being an inferior product, Schaefer says not to worry. Some laptop and cellphone batteries contain recycled material and have the same performance as a brand new one.

“We’re recovering the elemental value of [the battery] and reprocessing it to be a new material,” he explains. “This is not like a plastic recycling operation where you grind the plastic and then basically melt it and inject it into a new mold.”

Rather than extracting the materials from the ground, the recycling process mines the materials out of the battery itself — a much higher density source.

“It’s the exact same thing coming out of the ground,” Schaefer says. “There’s no difference. This type of material is infinitely recyclable. The trick is to recover it, which is our role in the supply chain.”

On the topic of the EV ecosystem growing in Pinal County and Arizona more broadly, Schaefer notes that the level of battery and EV supply chain support that exists — and continues to grow — is a tailwind for the whole state.

“It’s a promising outlook for the entire community,” he concludes. “It’s something we’re excited to be a part of and play an integral role in maintaining the safety and security of our material supply chain moving forward.”

Pinal County continues to be the fastest growing county in Arizona with some of the most exciting possibilities in the country. Nowhere else can you find the combination of new roads, new housing, innovative economic development and beautiful recreational open space.

Pinal Partnership formed in 2005 to bring together people who want the very best for Pinal County. Our members represent industry leaders throughout Pinal County including agriculture, home building, manufacturing, mining, renewable energy and tourism as well as state, county and city/town government leadership.