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Ken Bell, Tristan Warburton and Mike White with the Bechtel Global Supply Chain Award at the Western Nevada Supply branch in Winnemucca.
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On behalf of Western Nevada Supply, Tristan Warburton (center) accepts one of Bechtel Corporation’s 2025 Global Supply Chain Awards.
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The Western Nevada Supply branch in Winnemucca.
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Bechtel’s supply chain partners share the company’s commitment to responsible procurement procedures, continuous innovation and creating economic opportunities in the communities where they operate.
Two Thacker Pass project suppliers, both headquartered in northern Nevada, were recently recognized at Bechtel Corporation’s 2025 Global Supply Chain Awards. Western Nevada Supply and Hunewill Construction joined 23 other companies whose excellence and collaboration help Bechtel deliver projects around the world.
Bechtel is the engineering, procurement and construction management contractor for Thacker Pass and also performs significant construction scope on site.
Western Nevada Supply opened in Sparks, Nevada, 64 years ago and now has branches across northern Nevada including Winnemucca. We chatted with them about their role in Thacker Pass and the importance of hiring local suppliers.
Q: What has Western Nevada Supply been hired to do for Thacker Pass?
Mike White, Winnemucca Branch Manager: We started on the project by furnishing the valves for the main water line [a nearly 7-mile water pipeline that supplies water for dust control and construction at Thacker Pass]. And now it’s just about anything: lumber, pipe valves and fittings, tapes, protective coating materials. We’ve really enjoyed working on Thacker Pass, and it’s helped us grow substantially in our product offerings. We can sincerely say that there's not one request that we've been sent by Bechtel that we've said, ‘sorry, can't help.’ It's been our pleasure to try and help with every single opportunity that we can.
Q: Winnemucca is very familiar with the mining industry. How does Thacker Pass stand out from other projects?
Tristan Warburton, Sales Representative: This is the first time, at least in my career, of being part of a new-build. Everything we’ve been involved in has been pre-existing. So I think we’re seeing a lot of things that the town hasn’t seen for a long time.
Q: Why is it important for a project like Thacker Pass to hire local?
White: You want to have local champions. And I think you do a lot of that by working with local people as much as possible. This is in our backyard, this is affecting our day-to-day lives. So it's nice to see that the people in the community are benefiting.
Q: How important is this job to Western Nevada Supply?
White: Every customer's important to us. But this one is… we're committing to it, if you will. Tristan's primary role with Western Nevada Supply is being the salesman for Thacker Pass. And that's unique for us. We haven’t had a sales person dedicated to one single project, but we know and we value this particular project and how important it is not just to Western Nevada supply, but to the state and to the country.
Warburton: Bechtel is very innovative with a lot of the systems they use, which has introduced us to new tools and improved our operations.
Q: How have you been involved with the “Lithium Loop,” focused on mining, to processing and recycling?
Warburton: We’ve helped out with the Tesla Gigafactory build [outside of Reno] and the data centers there. And we were involved with Redwood Materials [a lithium battery recycler in the same area].
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
Warburton: I think it’s phenomenal working with the people on site. I get to interact with them every day. They’re on a mission. And I hear the stories of these people that come from all over the place. It's cool to work with all that diversity and it definitely grows our knowledge.