Nano One Materials Corp TSX:NANO, the Canadian clean-technology company developing lithium-ion battery cathode materials, has strengthened its partnership with Rio Tinto LON:RIO in a move aimed at tightening control over raw material supply chains and accelerating commercialisation of its proprietary production process.
The two companies are advancing a joint programme to pre-qualify high-volume, battery-grade lithium carbonate and related inputs for Nano One’s One-Pot process, a patented production technology designed to simplify and reduce the cost of producing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode active material.
The collaboration is part of a wider effort to de-risk and regionalise LFP supply chains at a time when governments and manufacturers are increasingly prioritising local production capacity for critical battery materials.
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Nano One said it has now completed or is progressing through multiple stages of qualification testing for lithium carbonate from several of Rio Tinto’s assets in Argentina. Material from the Fenix site in Catamarca province has reached “C-sample” status — tonne-scale volumes typically used for pilot-scale and customer validation — with 10 tonnes purchased for ongoing trials.
Lithium carbonate from Rio Tinto’s Olaroz operation in Jujuy province has been approved at the “A-sample” stage, with further qualification to follow, while pre-commercial samples from the Rincon project are undergoing evaluation for potential future supply.
Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining groups, has made lithium a key pillar of its diversification strategy as the energy transition gathers pace. The company is developing a portfolio of tier-one lithium projects with a stated target of producing more than 200,000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) by 2028. Its assets in Argentina form part of that pipeline, alongside projects in the United States and Europe.
Tangible value for Nano One’s technology
Nano One’s COO, Alex Holmes, said the collaboration was adding tangible value to the company’s technology and licensing platform by pre-qualifying feedstock from “premier producers” such as Rio Tinto. Doing so, he said, would help future licensees mitigate supply chain risk and accelerate their route to market once Nano One’s One-Pot process is deployed at commercial scale.
The One-Pot process is designed to simplify conventional cathode manufacturing by eliminating intermediate steps and reducing waste. Nano One says it can lower production costs and improve environmental performance, while allowing LFP to be produced directly from a variety of lithium sources, including carbonate and hydroxide.
The company’s staged testing protocol progresses from kilogram-scale (“A-sample”) through to tonne-scale (“C-sample”) and ultimately commercial production (“D-sample”). Each stage is intended to validate consistency and performance, both of the feedstock and of the finished cathode material. By integrating feedstock qualification with its own process development, Nano One aims to cut up to a year from the standard timeline for customer acceptance and licensing.
Importance of supply assurance in the battery sector
The pre-qualification effort underlines the growing importance of supply assurance in the battery materials sector. As electric vehicle demand accelerates, manufacturers and governments are increasingly focused on securing reliable, traceable, and geographically diverse sources of lithium and other critical minerals.
For Nano One, aligning with Rio Tinto — one of the few Western producers with scale and resources to compete with Chinese suppliers — bolsters its credibility as a technology licensor and potential catalyst for a domestic LFP supply chain in North America.
The collaboration sits squarely within Nano One’s broader strategy of commercialising its process technology through partnerships, licensing, and regional project development. For Rio Tinto, it offers another avenue to demonstrate the performance of its lithium products in advanced applications — and to position itself at the heart of a Western effort to build cleaner, more resilient battery supply chains.
