American Battery Technology Company, an integrated battery materials technology company, announced today that after completing a competitive diligence process to secure financing to facilitate the advancement of the company's commercial-scale construction projects, the company has completed a debt financing with a single institutional investor for up to $50 million in zero coupon convertible bonds.
"This capital investment supports the continued development of our major projects as we evolve from demonstration and pilot scale systems to commercial scale installations in each of our business units," said ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert. "We have evaluated a wide range of financing alternatives over the last several months and the use of this debt financing is very well aligned with our growth plans."
- Lithium-ion battery recycling: ABTC currently has the first phase of its first commercial-scale recycling facility in operation, using technologies developed internally by ABTC for the strategic demanufacturing and recycling of battery components. A second phase will later be added that includes its specific chemical extraction train for the manufacture of critical battery materials, and a third phase of these battery recycling operations will be integrated to further increase material recovery rates and decrease costs. operational. ABTC was recently selected to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a $20 million project to support the commercialization of this third phase, and funds from this announced funding will directly support these efforts.
- Development of Primary Lithium Resources: ABTC is working to develop and commercialize its 10,340-acre lithium-bearing shaly clay deposit in Nevada, recently identified as one of the largest known lithium deposits in the US with an inferred resource * 15.8 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent. These announced funds will support the current exploration program to continue the evolution of this internal resource towards upgrading from the current 'inferred' resource classification to a 'measured and indicated' resource classification, and also to proceed with permitting operations for market this critical internal material resource.
- Primary Lithium Hydroxide Refinery: ABTC has developed its own technologies to refine its lithium-bearing clay resource into a battery-grade lithium hydroxide product. This set of integrated processes is currently being demonstrated at its pilot plant, which is supported by a US DOE grant awarded in 2021, with a processing capacity of up to 5 metric tons per day. As a result of the early successes of these efforts, in the fall of 2022, the US DOE selected ABTC for an additional grant for a $115 million project to build a commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery based on these unique technologies. . Proceeds from this announced investment will directly support these commercial-scale construction efforts as matching funds.
