Committed to the Nation.
Invested in our people.
Passionate about the environment.

Our Vision

  • America is vulnerable. Our defense sector is reliant on geopolitical adversaries to supply materials critical to national defense. This position is untenable and the constant threat of supply chain disruptions jeopardizes our country. We seek to break that dynamic. We will on-shore the processing of these critical metals and in doing so, increase our nation’s security by guaranteeing a vital supply for the U.S. Defense Sector.

  • We embrace the responsibility that we have to our company’s employees. The American work ethic remains incredibly robust in rural America, and we intend to capitalize on it. We create opportunities, not guarantees, for our employees to earn life-changing wages.

    We do this by empowering teams, pushing decision making onto the operating floor, paying weekly production bonuses along with annual profitability bonuses (both without caps), and hiring doers rather than managers. Empowering our employees to make decisions creates tremendous value for all involved.

  • We are dedicated to a sustainable future and to improving the social, economic and environmental well-being of the communities in which we operate. We pursue feedstock partners that seek to be true environmental stewards, not just in name only.

    Our partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been specifically selected based on their adherence to internationally recognized responsible mining environmental and social standards. We travel to each mine personally to verify ethical environmental standards are in place before any offtake agreement is signed.

Our Advantages

1st Mover

America currently has no commercial facility producing cobalt cathode or sulfate. Ridgeline Elements would be America’s first.

Ridgeline Elements is the only company with the right connections, location, and personel to import and refine copper-cobalt concentrates

The Logistics

Northeast Arkansas is centrally located within the continental U.S. with direct access to the Nation’s busiest trucking and rail arteries.

Leveraging river barge transportation along the Mississippi River provides huge cost savings for moving our high tonnage inputs.

Precursor Cathode Active Materials (PCAM) & CAM facilities being built or planned in TX, TN, and KY.

Product Diversity

The production of multiple products from a single input, coupled with the ability to adjust the output of each, provides Ridgeline Elements with the flexibility to address any number of market conditions

Direct Procurement

In a break from industry norms we sign our offtake agreements directly with minerals extractors, for greater margin capture, instead of going through mineral traders. Each of our feedstocks is vetted in accordance with the guidelines of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRA).

Dynamic Intake

Our facility is designed with the ability to intake both concentrates and cobalt hydroxide allows rapid adaptation to supply conditions.

Executive Team

Ian Killough

President

University of Arkansas
BS in Engineering & MBA

Licensed Professional Engineer

Former USMC Officer

Hometown: Wynne, AR

Stephane Bossio

VP International Relations

University of Arkansas
BS in Engineering

Licensed Professional Engineer

Hometown: Kinshasa, DRC

Advisory Board

Tedd Lister

Technical Advisor

UGA - Ph.D. - Analytical Chemistry

Senior Scientist (ret.) Idaho National Laboratory

+20 years as a Critical Materials recovery researcher

60+ peer reviewed electrochemistry publications