Company expanding critical commercial
operations of next-generation lithium-ion battery recycling
technologies to expand North American closed-loop battery metals
supply chain supporting America's transition to
electrification
RENO,
Nev., Sept. 23, 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,
has been selected for a highly competitive grant for $150 million
dollars of federal investment by the U.S. Department of Energy
to be applied towards the construction of a new lithium-ion battery
recycling facility.
This facility will be the company's second commercial-scale
lithium-ion battery recycling facility and is designed to process
approximately 100,000 tonnes of battery materials per year from its
battery manufacturer, automotive OEM, and community partners.
"We are extremely honored to be selected for this government
investment to further expand our domestic battery recycling
operations, and after having gone through nearly one-year of
technical and economic evaluation, we appreciate the level of
diligence that the government employed in making this decision,"
stated ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert. "We
are greatly appreciative of the confidence and support we have
received from our partners throughout this process and are
energized to move forward with our feedstock supply, product
offtake, and strategic stakeholders in this critical expansion of
our domestic capabilities."
True to the company's strategic model to engage a diverse
portfolio of partners and stakeholders to bring advanced battery
technologies online and establish a commercial battery metals
supply chain for North America,
this project will leverage multiple partners including feedstock
supplier and critical mineral product offtaker BASF, global
engineering firm Siemens, the Clemson
University International Center for Automotive Research
(CU-ICAR), the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) ReCell Center, the
Argonne National Laboratory Sustainable Transportation Education
& Partnerships (STEP) department, and the South Carolina
Electric Transportation Network (SCETNetwork).
ABTC constructed and commissioned its first lithium-ion battery
recycling facility near Reno,
Nevada in Fall 2023, which implements its
internally-developed processes for the strategic de-manufacturing
and targeted chemical extraction of battery materials in order to
manufacture battery grade products at competitive costs and with
low environmental footprint. These processes are
fundamentally different than conventional methods of battery
recycling, which generally utilize either high temperature smelting
or non-strategic shredding systems.
Through this new facility construction project, ABTC will employ
a proactive, community-driven engagement model to build an energy
equity, sustainable circular manufacturing ecosystem that aims to
create 1,200 construction jobs and 300 operations jobs. The company
will work in direct partnership between communities, educational
institutions, industry, government, the National Laboratory system,
and the next generation workforce to support equitable and
sustainable initiatives that benefit and strengthen in local
communities, including in underserved communities that have
historically been left behind.
ABTC is partnering with government entities and local
educational institutions, such as ANL's STEP department and
Clemson University, to create career
pathways in battery recycling and establish a talent pipeline for
the domestic battery recycling industry.
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 awards supporting the advancement and
commercialization of its first-of-kind technologies for both
battery recycling and primary claystone-to-lithium hydroxide
manufacturing.
U.S. DOE Investments in ABTC Lithium-Ion Battery
Recycling
- October 2021: ABTC was
awarded a competitive grant for a $2
million project from the United States Advanced Battery
Consortium (USABC) supported by funding from US DOE to foster the
recycling of battery packs and extraction of battery metals, with
USABC cost contributions of $500k.
- November 2022: ABTC was
awarded for a competitive grant for a $20
million project from the U.S. DOE to scale, optimize, and
commercialize three next generation technologies to even further
enhance the performance of its recycling operations, with a federal
contribution of $10 million.
- March 2024: ABTC awarded
qualifying advanced energy project tax credits (48C) for
$20 million to be applied towards
capital expenditures of its first battery recycling facility near
Reno, Nevada.
- March 2024: ABTC awarded
qualifying advanced energy project tax credits (48C) for
$40 million to be applied towards
capital expenditures of its second battery recycling facility.
- TBD 2025: ABTC was selected for this competitive grant
for a $150 million project from the
U.S. DOE to construct a second battery recycling facility.
U.S. DOE Investments in ABTC Lithium Hydroxide (LiOH) from
Claystone Manufacturing
- October 2021: ABTC was
awarded a competitive grant supporting a $4.5 million project from the U.S. DOE for the
demonstration of its battery-grade lithium hydroxide production
from Nevada claystone resources,
with federal contributions of $2.27
million.
- October 2022: ABTC was
awarded a competitive grant supporting a $115 million project from the U.S. DOE to
construct a commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery, with a
federal contribution of $57.7
million.
These battery recycling technologies were developed in-house by
the ABTC R&D, project management, and engineering team members,
many of whom were previously members of the founding Tesla
Gigafactory design and engineering teams. ABTC intends to
utilize these significant experiences in collaboration with project
partners to scale processes and bring first-of-kind
commercial-scale facilities online and leveraging this expertise to
de-risk ABTC's commercialization of this second battery recycling
facility.
As ABTC has now completed the technical and economic evaluations
and been selected for this competitive grant award, it will next
enter the grant award contracting phase of this process with an
expected project kickoff in 2025.
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; 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. 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/american-battery-technology-company-selected-for-highly-competitive-150-million-federal-grant-to-be-applied-towards-the-construction-of-its-second-lithium-ion-battery-recycling-facility-302255478.html
SOURCE American Battery Technology Company