Company makes significant progress towards
commercialization of first integrated lithium-ion battery recycling
facility and of first commercial-scale lithium hydroxide
refinery
RENO,
Nev., Sept. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- American
Battery Technology Company (ABTC) (NASDAQ: ABAT), an
integrated critical battery materials company that is
commercializing its technologies for both primary battery minerals
manufacturing and secondary minerals lithium-ion battery recycling,
announced fiscal year (FY) 2023 financial results for the 12 months
ended June 30, 2023.
ABTC is in the unique position of addressing domestic critical
battery material challenges through both the implementation of its
first-of-kind lithium manufacturing from primary domestic claystone
resources as well as of its first-of-kind integrated lithium-ion
battery recycling operations. The company's FY2023 financial report
shows continued and accelerated advancement of bringing new,
domestic battery metal products to market in collaboration with the
company's strategic partners. Fiscal year 2023, and following
into its yet completed first quarter of fiscal 2024, have been a
foundational year for the company as it has remained diligently
focused on accelerated commercialization and long-term sustainable
growth to operationalize its first-of-kind low-environmental-impact
technologies within the lithium-ion battery recycling and primary
battery metals manufacturing sectors.
Key financial highlights and milestones from fiscal year 2023
include:
- ABTC purchased a move-in ready commercial-scale battery
recycling facility and has used this facility to implement the
first installment of its internally developed integrated
lithium-ion battery recycling processing train. On August 11, 2023, the company closed on the
acquisition of this facility and will present these deposits as
property, plant and equipment for the fiscal quarter ending
September 30, 2023.
- Cash used for investing activities for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 2023 totaled $36.7 million, an increase of $21.6 million when compared to the prior fiscal
year. Investing activities include $21.9
million of cash used for the purchase of its new recycling
facility and additional equipment in northern Nevada.
- In the first half of the fiscal year, ABTC was selected for a
competitive U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant award for the
commercialization of a next generation of advanced lithium-ion
battery recycling technologies. This grant award provides
approximately $10 million in direct
U.S. DOE funding and is complemented by an additional $10 million of in-kind resources devoted to the
project by ABTC and its partners.
- In the first half of the fiscal year, the company acquired
additional lithium-bearing mineral rights in central Nevada for $8.2
million, paid in cash.
- In the first half of the fiscal year, ABTC was selected for a
competitive U.S. DOE grant award for the construction and
commissioning of a commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery
using its sedimentary claystone resource as feedstock. This grant
award provides approximately $57
million in direct US DOE funding and is complemented by an
additional $57M of in-kind resources
devoted to the project by ABTC and its partners.
- ABTC performed a rigorous request-for-proposal process to
identify the ideal partner to act as its lead engineering,
procurement, and construction firm for its commercial scale lithium
hydroxide refinery, and selected and contracted the global firm
Black & Veatch as its lead EPC firm.
- As ABTC ramped commissioning of its battery recycling
operations, cash used in operations for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 2023 increased by
$3.2 million from the prior fiscal
year to $13.4 million.
- ABTC streamlined operations and minimized shares issued for
external consulting operations, resulting in expenses recognized
for shares issued for services during the fiscal year ended
June 30, 2023 decreased by
$12.4 million from the prior fiscal
year to $9.3 million.
- As ABTC prioritized the development of its first-of-kind
battery recycling and lithium manufacturing operations, the company
recorded $7.7 million in research and
development costs for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, an increase of $6.7 million when compared to the prior fiscal
year. The company recorded an offset to research and development
costs of $0.9 million and
$0.1 million for federal grant funds
recognized for the fiscal years ended June
30, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
ABTC accelerated and expanded its lithium-ion battery recycling
business by purchasing a 137,00 square foot commercial-scale
battery recycling facility previously used for the recycling of
lead-acid batteries. The company is in the final commissioning
stages of the first phase of this first commercial-scale recycling
facility which will house ABTC's first-of-kind integrated battery
recycling system which utilizes a strategic de-manufacturing and
targeted chemical extraction train in order to recover battery
materials with high yields, low cost, and with a low environmental
footprint. These processes are fundamentally different than
conventional methods of battery recycling, which utilize high
temperature furnaces, such as smelting, or non-strategic shredding
or grinding systems. The ABTC system results in battery metals
separation, recovery and purification of high-value, battery-grade
products with less environmental impact and greater potential cost
efficiencies than conventional methods.
In the first phase, battery materials will be recycled into
products including copper, aluminum, steel, a lithium intermediate,
and a black mass intermediate material. Once the second phase
of this integrated recycling facility is operational, this lithium
intermediate will be further refined into a battery grade lithium
hydroxide product, and the black mass intermediate material will be
further refined into battery grade nickel, cobalt, manganese, and
lithium hydroxide products.
ABTC was one of five companies nation-wide selected for a
$10 million U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) grant for a $20 million project
to support the commercialization of these new technologies. Under
the battery recycling portion of the 'Electric Drive Vehicle
Battery Recycling and Second Life Applications' opportunity from
the U.S. DOE in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, ABTC
and its partners intend to validate, test, and deploy three new
first-of-kind disruptive advanced separation and processing
technologies to further enhance the economic competitiveness,
reduce environmental impact, and re-integrate an even greater
percentage of the constituent components to the domestic battery
manufacturing market.
Primary Lithium Resources Development
Also in FY2023, ABTC further explored and evaluated its 10,340-acre
lithium-bearing claystone deposit near Tonopah, Nevada. The exploration of
ABTC Tonopah Flats Lithium Project resulted in the
publishing of a SK-1300 compliant maiden resource report.
This report, written by the third-party firm RESPEC, LLC acting as
the Qualified Person (QP), concluded that this is one of the
largest known lithium resources in the
United States. Based on report recommendations, the
company continues to evolve this domestic resource towards
upgrading from the current 'inferred' resource to 'measured and
indicated' resource classification, and also to proceed through the
permitting operations to commercialize this domestic critical
material resource.
Primary Lithium-Hydroxide Refining
In order to broaden the resource base for U.S. domestic production
of critical lithium materials, ABTC in collaboration with DuPont
and the University of Nevada, Reno, and
supported by funding from the US DOE, has developed an integrated,
developed a first-of-kind processing train specifically designed to
access the lithium in these types of unconventional resources to
produce a low-cost and low environmental impact lithium hydroxide
monohydrate product that meets the rigorous specifications for use
in high energy density battery cathode manufacturing.
This year, ABTC successfully completed the initial phase of this
project and has demonstrated its lithium-hydroxide refining system
produces product that meets all third-party battery cathode grade
specifications. This validation included the collection of
feedstock material from ABTC's domestic sedimentary claystone
resource, the selective leaching of lithium from this feedstock,
the purification of the generated leachate solution, the conversion
of this solution into a lithium hydroxide material, and the
purification and crystallization of this material into solid
lithium hydroxide monohydrate powder. Additionally, the
company completed a techno-economic analysis that demonstrated at
commercial scale ABTC's internally-developed technologies produce a
lithium hydroxide material with production costs that are lower
than when manufactured from conventional resources and with
conventional technologies.
As a result of the early successes of these efforts, in the Fall
of 2022 ABTC was selected by the U.S. DOE for an additional
$57 million grant award for
a $115 million project to
construct a commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery based on
these first-of-kind technologies.
ABTC engaged one of the premier global construction firms, Black
& Veatch, for the engineering, procurement, and construction
firms of its commercial scale lithium hydroxide refinery based on
these fundamental metallurgical and mineral processing
techniques.
The company recently issued a shareholder letter noting
milestones and its recent uplist to the Nasdaq Capital Market
exchange. Read the full letter: American Battery Technology
Company Shareholder Letter 2023.
About American Battery Technology Company
American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), headquartered in
Reno, Nevada, has pioneered
first-of-kind technologies to unlock domestically manufactured and
recycled battery metals critically needed to help meet the
significant demand from the electric vehicle, stationary storage,
and consumer electronics industries. Committed to a circular
supply chain for battery metals, ABTC works to continually innovate
and master new battery metals technologies that power a global
transition to electrification and the future of sustainable
energy.
Inferred Resource
Inferred mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for
which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on the basis of
limited geological evidence and sampling. The level of geological
uncertainty associated with an inferred mineral resource is too
high to apply relevant technical and economic factors likely to
influence the prospects of economic extraction in a manner useful
for evaluation of economic viability. Because an inferred mineral
resource has the lowest level of geological confidence of all
mineral resources, which prevents the application of the modifying
factors in a manner useful for evaluation of economic viability, an
inferred mineral resource may not be considered when assessing the
economic viability of a mining project and may not be converted to
a mineral reserve.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other
than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking
statements." Although the American Battery Technology Company's
(the "Company) management believes that such forward-looking
statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such
expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking
statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could
cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those
anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among
others, interpretations or reinterpretations of geologic
information, unfavorable exploration results, inability to obtain
permits required for future exploration, development or production,
general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries
in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory
requirements and approvals; fluctuating mineral and commodity
prices, final investment approval and the ability to obtain
necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Additional
information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to
differ materially from these forward-looking statements is
available in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended June 30, 2023. The Company
assumes no obligation to update any of the information contained or
referenced in this press release.
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SOURCE American Battery Technology Company