US battery technology company successfully produces lithium hydroxide from its unique Nevada-based integrated demonstration facility Claystone

• American Battery Technology Company (NASDAQ:ABAT) demonstrates the ability to produce commercially viable lithium products with its internally developed processing technologies from a US source, reducing dependence on foreign entities
  
• Demonstration-scale quantities of manufactured lithium hydroxide will be used for qualification processes by strategic partners in negotiating long-term commercial-scale offtake agreements that could directly support the build-out of a North American supply chain for critical battery minerals
  
• Successful Operation of Demonstration Facility Enables Acceleration of Construction and Operation of Supported U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grant 30,000 tons Commercial scale LiOH/year domestic refinery will be located at the 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 commercializing its technologies for both primary battery mineral production and lithium-ion battery recycling for secondary minerals, announced that it successfully produced demonstration-scale quantities of lithium hydroxide material at the integrated facility, specifically utilizing proprietary lithium-bearing claystone material from the Tonopah Flats Lithium Project (TFLP) resource nearby Tonopah, Nev.

“There are currently several companies building multi-billion dollar facilities for the production of high energy density cathode active materials indoors North Americaand these facilities require large quantities of lithium, particularly in the form of battery-grade lithium hydroxide as a feedstock,” said the ABTC CEO. Ryan Melsert. “However, there are currently no commercial facilities in the US to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide from US sources. We are pleased to have developed our proprietary technologies for the production of lithium hydroxide from our own US-based unconventional claystone resources. have built this integrated, demonstration-scale facility with support from the U.S. Department of Energy through a competitive grant, where we will be able to process hundreds of tons of material, and to now produce large quantities of lithium hydroxide material to supply to strategic customers for their qualification and long-term offtake agreement processes .”

The signing of long-term offtake agreements for battery-grade lithium hydroxide is critical to the success of the companies currently building facilities for the production of high energy density cathode active materials. The type of demonstration-scale facility that ABTC has built and currently operates will allow large quantities of representative lithium hydroxide to be produced and supplied to these automotive OEMs, battery cell manufacturing and cathode manufacturers for qualification and evaluation during the negotiation process. and signing these long-term purchasing agreements.

ABTC is working to further develop this technology by constructing a commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year, using this system design, directly on the TFLP site, which has been identified as a of the largest lithium resources in the US. October 2022ABTC was selected for an extra competitive price $57.5 million grant from the US DOE for a $115 million project to support the construction of this commercial refinery. ABTC has engaged one of the world’s largest construction companies, Black & Veatch, to engineer, procure and build this commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery.

Lithium products are generally manufactured from conventional raw materials, including hard rock spodumene materials, mainly from the West Australia and lithium-rich salt solutions, mainly from South AmericaHowever, the US does not have large amounts of these developed conventional resources. As a result, to significantly increase U.S. production of lithium battery products, ABTC has developed a series of processing technologies specifically intended for use with the unconventional source of lithium-bearing claystone found in Nevada. ABTC has now explored and developed its own lithium-bearing claystone resource at the more than 10,000-acre Tonopah Flats Lithium Project, considered one of the largest identified lithium resources in the US.

At the same time, the company is also commercializing its unique technologies for its battery recycling operations and has successfully manufactured a large inventory of recycled battery metal products at its commercial recycling facility in Deepening province, Nevada. ABTC’s internally developed recycling processes use a pre-planned strategic demanufacturing process followed by a targeted chemical extraction train to recover battery materials at high yields, low costs and with a low environmental footprint. These ABTC recycling technologies have won several competitive industry awards and government grants and are fundamentally different from conventional battery recycling methods, which typically use high-temperature melting operations or non-strategic shredding systems.

By bringing breakthrough technologies to market, ABTC’s battery recycling and primary battery metal commercialization efforts support the buildout of a circular supply chain for domestically sourced battery metals.

About the American battery technology company
American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), headquartered in Reno, Nev, has developed breakthrough technologies to unlock domestically manufactured and recycled battery metals critical to helping meet significant demand from the electric vehicle, stationary storage and consumer electronics sectors. ABTC is committed to a circular battery metals supply chain and works to continuously innovate and master new battery metal technologies that enable 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 management of American Battery Technology Company (the “Company”) believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations are or will be correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the company’s future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks and uncertainties relating to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern; interpretations or reinterpretations of geological information, adverse 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 prices of minerals and raw materials, final approval of investments and the ability to obtain the necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Additional information about the factors that could 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 its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the past year. June 30, 2023. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information contained or referred to in this press release.

SOURCE American battery technology company