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Tesla is breaking ground on the company’s in-house lithium refinery, located in the greater Corpus Christi area of Texas. Once complete, the facility will represent an investment of >$1 billion in Southwest Texas. This investment is critical to Tesla’s mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and represents the company’s efforts to aggressively increase the supply of battery-grade lithium hydroxide available in North America.
The 1,200+ acre site will be the location of the first industrial deployment of an acid-free lithium refining route. This process eliminates the use of hazardous reagents and byproducts in favor of more inert options. The byproduct from this facility, a mixture of sand and limestone, is useful in the production of construction materials, making beneficial use of traditional waste streams.
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In the future, Tesla expects this facility to also process other intermediate lithium feedstocks, including recycled batteries and manufacturing scrap.
The construction effort will create nearly 1,000 construction jobs, and the facility will employ upwards of 250 full time employees, including production technicians, operations managers and engineering roles to support ongoing plant maintenance and optimization.
Tesla is also committed to building talent pipelines in the greater Coastal Bend area through education investments in the Robstown Independent School District, apprenticeship pathways at Del Mar Community College and internship opportunities with Texas A&M Corpus Christi.