In 2022, shovels turned the soil of what was set to become Ascend Elements’ Apex 1 Facility. Two years later, construction is well underway and members from the battery material manufacturer appeared at Monday’s South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council meeting to provide progress updates.
Apex 1 Facility Site Manager, Mark Fern shared that the facility will be responsible for making and recycling cathode, lithium carbonate and graphite materials for advanced batteries.
Ascend is based in Covington, Georgia and Fern says at their headquarter facility, materials will be extracted from recycled batteries and at Apex 1 those materials will be purified and then sold to battery production plants.
Since the ground breaking, Fern says Ascend has spent around $1 billion in the community on construction.
The facility is set to create 400 jobs and the first group of operators are currently undergoing training. Fern says they are also partnering with Hopkinsville Community College to create an operator training program.
Ascend Elements Equity Program Manager, DeeAnna Sova has been working with the college to establish the training program. Sova says chemical operator training programs exist at other Kentucky Community and Technical College System institutions, but the program coming to the Hopkinsville campus is set to be more tailored to Ascends’ operations.
Sova says Ascend has signed off to purchase $200,000 worth of equipment for the program and they plan to create a miniature chemical plant. The college is also working on a campaign to build a smart technology center and Sova says Ascend plans to invest in those efforts.
In her role, Sova focuses on how Ascend Elements can invest in education, workforce development, transportation and childcare.
The Apex 1 Facility is set to be operational by the summer of 2025.