RENO, Nev., June 21, 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, hosted U.S. Department of
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm
and members of her staff at its commercial lithium-ion battery
recycling facility earlier this week. The tour follows
American Battery Technology Company's (ABTC) recent announcement of
its first successful manufacturing of lithium hydroxide from
its first-of-kind, Nevada-based
claystone integrated demonstration plant that was constructed with
support from a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
"I'm very proud of our team for constructing and commissioning
ahead of schedule our multi-tonne per day demonstration system for
the manufacturing of battery grade lithium hydroxide from our own
Nevada-based sedimentary claystone
resource," stated American Battery Technology Company CEO
Ryan Melsert. "It was an
especially proud moment to have Secretary Granholm come onsite to
tour this demonstration facility, to review our progress on scaling
this technology even further to our commercial scale refinery with
support from an additional U.S. DOE grant, and to have so many of
our strategic partners and stakeholders onsite to galvanize our
path forward and align to establishing a true US closed-loop
battery supply chain."
During the visit, Secretary Granholm toured ABTC's lithium
hydroxide from claystone demonstration facility, its lithium-ion
battery recycling plant, and met several ABTC strategic partners
and stakeholder leaders who participated in the tour and
events.
The tour started with ABTC's lithium hydroxide from claystone
demonstration facility highlighting the company's integrated,
first-of-kind process train specifically designed to access the
lithium in these types of US-based unconventional resources to
produce a low-cost and low environmental impact lithium hydroxide
monohydrate product (LiOH) that meets the rigorous specifications
for use in high energy density battery cathode manufacturing. While
the U.S. does not hold large deposits of conventional lithium
resources, such as hard rock ores and lithium-rich brines, it does
have significant amounts of lithium held in unconventional
deposits, such as sedimentary claystone resources. To date,
attempts to produce battery-grade lithium products from these vast
quantities of lithium-bearing unconventional sedimentary resources
have utilized processes that were designed for conventional hard
rock or brine-based resources, and as a result were not
economically competitive.
With its demonstration facility now operational, 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 Tonopah Flats Lithium
Project, 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.
After touring the LiOH pilot plant, the Secretary viewed the
commercial lithium-ion battery recycling operations. The ABTC
recycling facility utilizes a first-of-kind integrated set of
recycling processes based on a strategic de-manufacturing approach
that utilizes a deconstruction process combined with a targeted
selective hydrometallurgical process. This system is agnostic to
feedstock form factors and can process lithium-ion batteries and
manufacturing scrap of a variety of sizes and shapes, and with a
wide range of internal chemistries. The first phase of the
recycling process produces recycled products that includes copper,
aluminum, steel, a lithium intermediate, and a black mass
intermediate material, and the integrated second phase further
refines these materials into battery grade nickel sulfate, cobalt
sulfate, manganese sulfate, and lithium hydroxide.
Several strategic partners and civic leaders joined the tour,
including:
- Tom Burns, Executive Director,
Nevada Governor's Office of
Economic Development
- Andrew Clinger, Vice President
for Administration & Finance, University of Nevada, Reno
- Jessica Diss, Northern Nevada Legislative Director, Office
of Senator Cortez-Masto
- Jon Dunham, AVP, Managing Director of Mining & Metals,
Black & Veatch
- Joni Eastley, Tonopah Main Street and Tonopah Town Board,
Vice Chair
- Mridul Gautam, Vice President of Innovation and Research,
University of Nevada,
Reno
- Brady Hays, Sr. Vice President
& Executive Managing Director, Energy Resources, Process
Industries, Mining and Manufacturing, Black & Veatch
- Benjamin Knudsen, Vice President
Research, North America, BASF
- Jackie Pierrott, VP of
Government Affairs, Nevada Battery Coalition
- Kristen Wahl, Director of Energy Justice and Workforce
Readiness for Advanced Energy Technologies, Argonne National
Laboratory
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. ABTC has been selected for several
competitive grant awards supporting the advancement and
commercialization of its first-of-kind technologies for both
recycling and primary LiOH manufacturing.
U.S. DOE Investments in ABTC Lithium-Ion Battery
Recycling
- October 2021: ABTC was
selected for a $2 million project
from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC)
supported by funding from US DOE to support the recycling of
battery packs and extraction of battery metals, with USABC cost
share of $500 thousand.
- November 2022: ABTC was
selected for a $20 million project
from the U.S. DOE to scale, optimize, and commercialize three next
generation techniques to even further enhance the performance of
the recycling train, with a federal cost share of $10 million.
- March 2024: Awarded
qualifying advanced energy project tax credits (48C) for
$20 million for capital expenditures
for battery recycling.
- March 2024: Awarded
qualifying advanced energy project tax credits (48C) for
$40 million for the construction of a
new commercial recycling facility.
U.S. DOE Investments in ABTC Lithium Hydroxide (LIOH) from
Claystone Manufacturing
- October 2021: ABTC
was selected for a $4.5 million
project from the U.S. DOE for the demonstration of battery-grade
lithium hydroxide precursor production from Nevada claystone resources, with federal cost
share of $2.27 million.
- October 2022: ABTC
was selected for a $115 million
project from the U.S. DOE to construct a commercial-scale
lithium hydroxide refinery, with a federal cost share of
$57 million.
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.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-department-of-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm-tours-american-battery-technology-company-commercial-facilities-302179090.html
SOURCE American Battery Technology Company