A truck load of materials is approximately 20 tons. We expect to begin producing salable quantities and materials from our Sierra ARC in the second half of 2024 and expect significant and consistent growth in revenues from recycled materials beginning in 2025. The build-out of our Sierra ARC in Tahoe-Reno is progressing as planned. We have Black Mass input material and funding to begin the commissioning for this expansion, and we are pursuing non-dilutive financing options for the remaining amounts. Our primary strategy for this is in the form of our already submitted USDA loan guarantee application that includes strong third-party validation in the form of a feasibility study of our overall business and strong third-party validation by a global engineering firm, ICF, in the form of a detailed technical life cycle analysis and validation of our novel processes.
This package also includes detailed line-by-line hard quotes for the entire Phase 1 build out already underway of the Sierra ARC, which gives us great confidence in the overall costs. In the event the USDA loan guarantee does not work out for us, we have solid alternative debt-based backup plans in the works. I’d add that the government grants we are pursuing are for new lines of business, not for the core business with the ARC, and we are not dependent on securing those particular grants to move forward with the ARC. If successful, those grants will accelerate our overall expansion efforts. We raised capital in the third quarter and successfully strengthened our balance sheet to carry us through market fluctuations that can be expected with our flexible business model and funding options that are not solely reliant on government entities, we believe we are well-positioned to execute.
In summary, we said that 2023 was the year that we said we would transition from pilot phase to commercialization, and that initiative is well underway and accelerating. We have successfully proven our technology at pilot scale and have leveraged that success to numerous announces and developing partnerships. We have secured input and offtake partners with more coming. We are scaling operations in a measured and phased way to minimize capital expenditures and limit risk. We have a healthy balance sheet and a growing number of options to secure the remaining growth capital. Our strategy is rapidly coming together and we believe that 2024 will be a watershed year for Aqua Metals. I look forward to sharing further updates with you all soon. And now I’m going to turn it over to Judd Merrill, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the results for the third quarter.
Judd Merrill: Thanks Steve. Let me start my comments with our balance sheet. As of September 30th, 2023, we had total assets of $42 million and working capital of $23.1 million. We ended the quarter with total cash of approximately $25.6 million. During the quarter, we completed a public offering of approximately 18 million shares, resulting in $20 million of gross proceeds. In addition, we entered into an agreement to execute a license agreement with Yulho, which included Yulho investing $5 million into Aqua Metals. This capital supports our planned for Phase 1 of our 10,000 ton per year campus facility. There were no other significant changes on the balance sheet since our last quarterly report. So, I’ll move to the income statement.
In Q3, we were focused on advancing and executing our operations at our pilot facility. The costs related to operating this facility were approximately $1.8 million for the quarter. We generated a small amount of revenue, as Steve mentioned, primarily related to the sale of lead inventory. We also recorded modest service fees from our development agreement with 6K. Those fees are recorded in other income. Research and development costs decreased approximately 21% compared to the quarter ended September 30th, 2022. Included in R&D expenses are cost related to our agreement with 6K. General and administrative expenses increased approximately 7.8% for the quarter ended September 30th, 2023, compared to the quarter ended September 30th, 2022, in line with expectations and guidance.
