The fiscal year (FY) 2024 financial results for the 12 months ended June 30, 2024, were released by American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) an integrated critical battery materials company that is commercializing its technologies for both primary battery minerals manufacturing and secondary minerals lithium-ion battery recycling.
ABTC’s two business areas, primary battery metals manufacturing and lithium-ion battery recycling, are bringing innovative technologies to the market and constructing a locally sourced, circular supply chain for lithium-ion battery metals for North America.
“I am extremely proud of the ABTC team for rapidly progressing through purchasing a vacant facility, installing our internally developed battery recycling equipment, commissioning the processing train, and selling first product to customers within a single year,” said Ryan Melsert, CEO of ABTC. Impressively, in this fiscal year alone, our primary business unit for manufacturing battery metals went from bench scale trials to designing and building an integrated demonstration facility capable of producing multiple tons of lithium hydroxide per day, commissioning the entire system, producing our first large batch of battery grade lithium hydroxide, and even hosting a visit from U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who came to personally assess our progress and observe our operations. Every day, our workers go above and beyond to achieve these ground-breaking successes.
Business Milestones for Battery Recycling in the Fiscal Year 2024:
Establishment of First Battery Recycling Facility: In the summer of 2023, ABTC acquired an empty building and set up its in-house developed lithium-ion battery recycling processing train within it. In the fall of 2023, construction on the 20,000 tonnes/year train was finished, and commissioning was started.
First Revenue from Battery Recycling Operations: This year, ABTC produced commercial quantities of recycled goods, and the sale of these goods to key domestic clients brought in its first earnings. This plant can produce many streams of battery-grade metals and other recycled goods when it is completely scaled up.
Under the 48C Qualifying Energy Project Credit program, ABTC was chosen by the IRS and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to receive a highly competitive tax credit award of about $20 million, which will be used for the capital expenses of its first lithium-ion battery recycling facility located near Reno, Nevada.
Under the 48C Qualifying Energy Project Credit program, ABTC was chosen by the US DOE and IRS to receive a highly competitive tax credit award of almost $40 million, which will be used to finance the capital expenses of its second lithium-ion battery recycling factory.
With a project start date of September 1, 2023, this prime agreement was awarded to ABTC in support of its $115 million commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery project, which was chosen for a competitive grant by the U.S. DOE. Funds associated with this award were first given to the corporation in the quarter that concluded on September 30, 2023.
With a project start date of October 1, 2023, this prime agreement was awarded to ABTC in support of their $20 million next-generation advanced battery recycling technology, for which the U.S. DOE selected the company for a competitive grant. Funds associated with this award were first given to the corporation in the quarter that concluded on December 31, 2023.
The U.S. DOE awarded ABTC a competitive grant of $150 million to support
Business Milestones for Primary Battery Metals Manufacturing starting in Fiscal Year 2024:
Nevada Claystone-to-Lithium Hydroxide: ABTC successfully manufactured lithium hydroxide (LiOH) from claystone specifically collected from its Tonopah Flats Lithium Projects (TFLP). This marked a significant milestone in the commercialization of ABTC’s internally-developed processes to access an unrealized domestic primary lithium resource. The construction and commissioning of the plant, which can process multiple tons of claystone per day, was completed.
The Tonopah Flats Lithium Project has been identified as one of the largest lithium deposits in the United States. ABTC has released the Initial Assessment (Preliminary Economic Assessment) for the project, which shows that it is an economically competitive project with total production costs of about $4,600 per tonne of LiOH and an NPV@10% of $4.7 billion.
Highlights of the Fiscal Year 2024’s finances:
initial profits from the sale of Black Mass produced in commercial quantities by its first integrated factory for recycling lithium-ion batteries. This plant can handle about 20,000 MT of battery materials annually once it is completely ramped up. It can also generate numerous streams of battery grade metals and other byproducts.
For the fiscal year that concluded on June 30, 2024, government grant assistance jumped to $3.3 million from $0.9 million in the previous year.
For the fiscal year that concluded on June 30, 2024, $12.9 million in cash was utilized for investing activities, including the purchase of real estate, buildings, equipment, water rights, and mineral rights. $36.7 million in cash was used during the same period last year, mostly for the purchase of equipment, water rights, and the company’s first battery recycling facility.
The corporation had $7 million in cash on hand as of June 30, 2024.
The amount of cash used for operations in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2024, was $16.9 million, as opposed to $13.4 million in the previous fiscal year.
A Securities Purchase Agreement for up to $51 million of a new series of senior secured convertible notes was signed into by the business on August 29, 2023. As of June 30, 2024, $18 million of the $25 million worth of notes that have been issued have been redeemed or converted, and the corporation has no intention of using the remaining space.
The firm continues to be intensely focused on long-term sustainable growth and expedited commercialization in order to operationalize its unique low-impact technologies related to lithium-ion battery recycling and primary battery metals manufacture.
