Executive Briefing · For City Officials
Minot Advanced Circular Manufacturing
A partnership briefing prepared for the City of Minot · Ward County
Advanced Circular Manufacturing engagement on the US-2 / US-52 corridor.
Carbotura · 8-minute walkthrough · Confidential briefing for authorized officials
The 30-second version
One partnership. One classification shift. Three configuration choices.
Three build stages: sizing → commercial structure → capital cost. Press Space or → to walk the Council through each stage.
Configurations available
100 / 200 / 400
TPD · elected at the Deployment Study, not now
Beneficiation Fee (TMC Fee)
$75/ton
City pays Carbotura per ton delivered · receives Circular Royalty™ back (120%→150%)Est
Optional · Legacy Remediation Royalty
$50/ton
Stacks on top of Circular Royalty™ · subject to Waste Characterization Study · +1%/yr
Capital cost to Minot
$0
Carbotura funds 100% of the facility build
Category
Manufacturing — not waste.
This distinction determines how the facility is permitted, which regulator has oversight, and what the fiscal architecture looks like.
ACM IS
A manufacturing process
- Microwave Catalytic Reforming, anoxic (oxygen-free), sub-atmospheric
- Converts municipal material inputs into synthetic graphite, graphene compounds, recovered minerals
- Classified under manufacturing NAICS 325180 / 325998 / 327992 / 331110 / 331314 / 331492
- Regulated as manufacturing under NDDEQ and federal RCRA §1004(27) · 40 CFR §261.2(e) exclusion pathway
- The 30-year CSA is a royalty-producing asset for Ward County — it replaces the current waste liability on the County's books with a recurring revenue stream
ACM IS NOT
A waste-handling operation
- Not incineration — combustion mechanically impossible in the anoxic reactor
- Not gasification, pyrolysis, or waste-to-energy
- Not classified under solid-waste NAICS 562212 / 562213 / 562219 / 562920
- Does not compete with, replace, or interfere with the existing City of Minot Sanitation Department collection service
- Does not require new City-supplied transport infrastructure — existing collection routes simply reroute from the current landfill destination to the ACM facility
The relationship · supplier and buyer
Ward County supplies the feedstock. Carbotura is the buyer.
The 30-year CSA is a supply agreement, not a service contract. Ward County becomes the manufacturing feedstock supplier to the ACM facility; Carbotura is the manufacturer that material stream transfers to under the CSA. Beyond capital, Carbotura brings the industrial platform: manufacturing employment, US critical-materials production, and a circular material loop — located in Minot.
$
100% capital funding
Carbotura funds the ACM facility build, site works, and equipment. Minot commits no capital, borrows no funds, and pledges no full-faith-and-credit backing.
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Build-Own-Operate
30-year Circular Supply Agreement. Carbotura owns and operates the facility. Environmental liability, closure obligations, and O&M all sit with Carbotura.
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Manufacturing jobs
Direct permanent skilled-trades and technician positions at the ACM facility — operators, process engineers, quality/lab, maintenance, logistics. Scales with configuration; specifics confirmed at the Deployment Study.
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Critical materials & minerals
The ACM facility produces synthetic graphite, graphene compounds, and recovered minerals — strategic domestic supply for battery, EV, and industrial supply chains. Places Minot on the US critical-materials map.
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Circularity
Closes the material loop at the community level. The upstream inputs to graphite, graphene, and mineral products are decoupled from mining and imports. Ward County's material stream becomes the manufacturing feedstock.
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Regulatory partnership
Carbotura leads the Regulatory Predicate Transition — the joint work with NDDEQ and EPA to confirm manufacturing classification alongside site permitting.
The counter-flow · the CSA
What Minot receives back — under the CSA.
The 30-year CSA is a royalty-producing asset that replaces a waste liability on Ward County's books. Under the Circular Supply Agreement (CSA), the City pays a per-ton Beneficiation Fee (TMC Fee) to Carbotura under the manufacturing arrangement — and Carbotura pays a per-ton royalty back that always exceeds the fee from Year 2 onward.
1
Circular Royalty™
Carbotura pays the City 120% of the current-year Beneficiation Fee per ton in Year 1, rising +1 percentage point every year (Year 2: 121%, Year 30: 149%). Uncapped. Paid monthly, 13 months in arrears.
2
Widening spread
Because the multiplier applies to the escalated fee, the royalty-minus-fee spread widens every year for the full 30-year term. This is a proven mathematical property of the formula, not a projection.
3
Take-or-Pay floor
Asymmetric Take-or-Pay: if tonnage falls short, the City still receives the royalty at the guaranteed minimum. Predictable revenue stream through the 30-year term.
4
Optional Exogenesis™ add-on
If the City engages the City of Minot Landfill cell for legacy remediation, a separate Legacy Remediation Royalty (Exogenesis™ path) of $50/ton (on legacy mass, +1%/yr) stacks on top of the Circular Royalty™ under the CSA.
Municipal accounting perspective
How this hits Minot's balance sheet and income.
Ward County becomes a manufacturing feedstock supplier under a 30-year supply agreement. The financial architecture is designed so the effect on both the income statement and balance sheet is unambiguously positive — and both effects are recognized annually in the County's financial statements.
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Income — new recurring revenue line
Circular Royalty™ receipts enter the general fund monthly, starting Month 37 (COD + 13 months) and continuing every month for 30 years. Recognized as recurring non-tax revenue.
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Income — disposal cost avoided
Every ton redirected from the City of Minot Landfill to the ACM facility eliminates the Fully-Loaded Cost of Disposal — gate fee, collection, transport, and the escalating tail. Reduction lands in the same fiscal year the tonnage is redirected.
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Balance sheet — no new debt
Carbotura funds 100% of CapEx. No G.O. bond issuance, no revenue bond, no pledge of Ward County's full-faith-and-credit backing. The manufacturing facility is Carbotura's asset; the royalty is Ward County's income.
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Balance sheet — environmental risk carry
Forward regulatory exposure (PFAS destination rules, methane compliance, closure re-permitting) sits with Carbotura under the CSA. Ward County's environmental impairment risk profile is materially reduced for the redirected material stream.
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Fund balance — enterprise fund relief
If the redirected tonnage relieves rate pressure on the Sanitation enterprise fund, the resulting rate stability and reduced dependency on periodic rate adjustments become a durable political and fiscal asset for the Council.
Sizing
Three configurations. Selected at the Deployment Study.
Council is not choosing a configuration today. The Deployment Study confirms feedstock availability, disposal-cost baseline, and site suitability — then Minot elects.
100
TPD
Ward County base load only. No partnership needed. Fully supportable from documented Minot volumes.
200
TPD
Ward + adjacent county pathway. Bottineau / McHenry / Renville partnerships optional and separately structured.
400
TPD
Full regional pathway. Adds Burleigh (Bismarck metro) or Grand Forks metro partnership. Neither is a precondition.
Regulatory foundation
The Regulatory Predicate Transition.
Also called the dewaste pathway. This is the joint regulatory work that lets a manufacturing operation stand up alongside — not inside — legacy waste-domain statutes.
RPT — both parties commit to the dewaste pathway
Advanced Circular Manufacturing does not fit within the waste domain and does not operate under waste-domain statutes. 100% elemental recycling requires classification onto the manufacturing predicate.
Carbotura brings: the process-classification evidence, the RCRA §1004(27) / 40 CFR §261.2(e) federal classification basis, and prior regulatory-engagement experience.
The City of Minot brings: standing to engage NDDEQ, political mandate for the transition, and where applicable, coordination with the ND Department of Health.
Endpoint: manufacturing NAICS classification recognized across all permitting, licensing, and regulatory contexts. Interim bridging authorities may apply during the transition.
From here to first tonne
Approximately 24 months, sequenced in five stages.
Each stage has a natural exit ramp. The Council decision today authorizes only the first stage. Actual Commercial Operating Date depends on Ward County's manufacturing queue position — the sequencing of active Carbotura client deployments at the time of CSA execution.
1
Weeks 4–6
Deployment Study
Feedstock baseline · Fully-Loaded Cost of Disposal · site + regulatory pathway · verifications against City-supplied documentation. $0 to Minot.
2
Month 2–5
LOI / MOU
Council authorizes the Letter of Intent. Configuration locked at signing.
3
Month 5–8
CSA execution
Circular Supply Agreement signed. NDDEQ manufacturing classification confirmed via the RPT.
4
Month 8–24
Build phase
Carbotura funds and builds the ACM facility. City engagement is minimal — permitting only. Queue-position dependent.
5
Month ~24
COD · first tonne
Commercial Operating Date. First Beneficiation Fee payment. Royalty stream begins M+13.
The ask · Today
Authorize a Deployment Study.
That is the full extent of what Council is asked to approve today. Everything downstream — configuration, LOI, CSA — is a subsequent Council decision informed by the Deployment Study findings.
Cost to Minot
$0
Carbotura bears the Deployment Study cost
Duration
4–6 wk
Then Council reviews findings
Next Council decision
LOI
Approximately Month 4