Mangrove Lithium has opened North America's first commercial electrochemical lithium refinery, a 1,000-tonne-per-year plant in Delta, British Columbia. The facility is designed to strengthen the continent's EV battery supply chain, as most of the world's lithium is still refined overseas. Mangrove's approach uses a proprietary electrochemical process to convert extracted lithium into battery-grade material, which it claims is more economical, flexible, and sustainable than conventional chemical methods. The company plans to develop a second facility in Eastern Canada that processes spodumene and refine lithium at a scale large enough to supply batteries for about 500,000 EVs annually. The project has received conditional funding support from Natural Resources Canada through its Critical Minerals Research, Development, and Demonstration program.