- American Battery Technology Company (NASDAQ:ABAT)
demonstrates ability to manufacture commercially-viable lithium
product with its internally-developed processing technologies from
a U.S resource, diminishing reliance on foreign
entities
- Demonstration-scale quantities of manufactured lithium
hydroxide to be used for qualification processes by strategic
partners in negotiation of long-term commercial-scale offtake
agreements that can directly support build out of a North American
Critical Battery Minerals Supply Chain
- Successful operation of demonstration facility allows for
acceleration of construction and operations of U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) grant supported 30,000
MT LiOH/year commercial-scale domestic refinery to be
located at its Tonopah Flats Lithium Project, one of the largest
known lithium deposits in the United
States
RENO,
Nev., June 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/
-- American Battery Technology Company (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 that it has successfully manufactured demonstration-scale
quantities of lithium hydroxide material produced in its integrated
facility specifically utilizing its own lithium bearing claystone
material from its Tonopah Flats Lithium Project (TFLP)
resource near Tonopah, Nevada.
"There are currently multiple corporations constructing
multi-billion-dollar facilities for the manufacturing of high
energy density cathode active material within North America, and these facilities require
large amounts of lithium specifically in the form of battery grade
lithium hydroxide as their feed material," stated ABTC CEO
Ryan Melsert. "However, there
are currently no commercial facilities within the U.S. to
manufacture battery grade lithium hydroxide from U.S.-based
resources. We are excited to have developed our own
technologies for how to manufacture lithium hydroxide from our own
U.S.-based unconventional claystone resource, to have constructed
this integrated demonstration scale facility with support from the
US Department of Energy through a competitive grant where we
can process hundreds of tonnes of material, and to now be
manufacturing large quantities of lithium hydroxide material to
deliver to strategic customers for their qualification and
long-term offtake agreement processes."
The signing of long-term purchase offtake agreements for battery
grade lithium hydroxide is critical to the success of the
corporations currently constructing facilities for the
manufacturing of high energy density cathode active material.
With the type of demonstration-scale facility that ABTC has
constructed and is currently operating, large quantities of
representative lithium hydroxide can be produced and delivered to
these automotive OEM, battery cell manufacturing, and cathode
manufacturing corporations for qualification and evaluation in the
process of negotiating and signing these long-term offtake
agreements.
ABTC is working to further evolve this technology by
constructing a commercial-scale 30,000 tonnes lithium hydroxide per
year refinery utilizing this system design directly at its TFLP
property, which has been identified as one of the largest lithium
resources in the U.S. In October
2022, ABTC was selected for an additional competitively
awarded $57.5 million grant from the
U.S. DOE for a $115M project to
support the construction of this commercial refinery. ABTC has
engaged one of the premier global construction firms, Black &
Veatch, for the engineering, procurement, and construction of this
commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery.
Lithium products are generally manufactured from conventional
feedstock resources, which include hard rock spodumene materials
primarily from western Australia
and lithium-rich brines primarily from South America, however the U.S. does not have
large quantities of these developed conventional resources. As a
result, in order to significantly increase U.S. production of
battery grade lithium products, ABTC has developed a set of
processing technologies specifically for use with the
unconventional resource of lithium-bearing claystone that is found
in Nevada. ABTC has now explored
and developed its own lithium-bearing claystone resource at its
more than 10,000 acre Tonopah Flats Lithium Project, which has been
assessed to be one of the largest identified lithium resources in
the U.S.
Concurrently, the company is also commercializing its
first-of-kind technologies for its battery recycling operations and
has successfully manufactured a large inventory of recycled battery
metal products at its commercial-scale recycling facility in
Storey County, Nevada.
ABTC's internally-developed recycling processes utilize an upfront
strategic de-manufacturing process followed by a targeted chemical
extraction train in order to recover battery materials with high
yields, low cost, and with a low environmental footprint. These
ABTC recycling technologies have won several competitive corporate
awards and government grants and are fundamentally different than
conventional methods of battery recycling, which generally utilize
either high temperature smelting operations or non-strategic
shredding systems.
Bringing first-of-kind technologies to market, ABTC's battery
recycling and primary battery metals commercialization efforts
support the buildout of a domestically-sourced battery metals
circular supply chain.
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.
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, risks and uncertainties related to the Company's ability to
continue as a going concern; 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