The Lithium Americas (LAC) Technical Development Center in Reno consists of laboratories and a pilot plant that model the processing plants that will be built at Thacker Pass. The Technical Center’s Quality Management System (QMS) was recently awarded the ISO 9001:2015 certification, which is a globally recognized standard for quality management. Implementation of ISO 9001:2015 shows LAC’s commitment to quality in the development of lithium products.
Kris McKee, Ph.D., LAC Analytical Lab Manager (left), and Ryan Ravenelle, Ph.D., LAC Research and Development Manager, Thacker Pass Project (right) display the ISO 9001 quality management certification flag issued by American Systems Registrar (ASR), demonstrating that LAC has put in place effective processes and trained staff to deliver consistency and quality in the development of lithium products, and to meet the expectations of our customers, industry partners, and outside organizations.
The Lithium Americas (LAC) Technical Development Center in Reno consists of laboratories and a pilot plant that model the processing plants that will be built at Thacker Pass. The Technical Center’s Quality Management System (QMS) was recently awarded the ISO 9001:2015 certification, which is a globally recognized standard for quality management. Implementation of ISO 9001:2015 shows LAC’s commitment to quality in the development of lithium products.
The ISO 9001:2015 certification was issued by American Systems Registrar (ASR), a provider of third-party system registration and accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board.
The process to become ISO 9001:2015 certified took place over seven months and involved the creation of policies, processes and training procedures, a document management system, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and review processes. A pre-audit was conducted in July 2023, with the final audit taking place in November 2023. The certification is valid for three years and requires annual surveillance audits and a recertification audit in three years.
The ISO 9001:2015 is the first of many certifications LAC will pursue during construction and operations to ensure we operate at globally recognized standards.
While the current ISO 9001:2015 QMS certification only applies to the Technical Center, LAC will go through a separate certification process for the operation at Thacker Pass to demonstrate LAC’s commitment to sound business practices and to increase quality assurance for our customers, industry partners and outside organizations.