American Battery Technology Company Releases Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Summary
Company makes significant progress towards commercialization of first integrated lithium-ion battery recycling facility and of first commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery
RENO, Nev., Sept. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) (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, announced fiscal year (FY) 2023 financial results for the 12 months ended June 30, 2023.
ABTC is in the unique position of addressing domestic critical battery material challenges through both the implementation of its first-of-kind lithium manufacturing from primary domestic claystone resources as well as of its first-of-kind integrated lithium-ion battery recycling operations. The company's FY2023 financial report shows continued and accelerated advancement of bringing new, domestic battery metal products to market in collaboration with the company's strategic partners. Fiscal year 2023, and following into its yet completed first quarter of fiscal 2024, have been a foundational year for the company as it has remained diligently focused on accelerated commercialization and long-term sustainable growth to operationalize its first-of-kind low-environmental-impact technologies within the lithium-ion battery recycling and primary battery metals manufacturing sectors.
Key financial highlights and milestones from fiscal year 2023 include:
ABTC purchased a move-in ready commercial-scale battery recycling facility and has used this facility to implement the first installment of its internally developed integrated lithium-ion battery recycling processing train. On August 11, 2023, the company closed on the acquisition of this facility and will present these deposits as property, plant and equipment for the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2023.
Cash used for investing activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 totaled $36.7 million, an increase of $21.6 million when compared to the prior fiscal year. Investing activities include $21.9 million of cash used for the purchase of its new recycling facility and additional equipment in northern Nevada.
In the first half of the fiscal year, ABTC was selected for a competitive U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant award for the commercialization of a next generation of advanced lithium-ion battery recycling technologies. This grant award provides approximately $10 million in direct U.S. DOE funding and is complemented by an additional $10 million of in-kind resources devoted to the project by ABTC and its partners.
In the first half of the fiscal year, the company acquired additional lithium-bearing mineral rights in central Nevada for $8.2 million, paid in cash.
In the first half of the fiscal year, ABTC was selected for a competitive U.S. DOE grant award for the construction and commissioning of a commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery using its sedimentary claystone resource as feedstock. This grant award provides approximately $57 million in direct US DOE funding and is complemented by an additional $57M of in-kind resources devoted to the project by ABTC and its partners.
ABTC performed a rigorous request-for-proposal process to identify the ideal partner to act as its lead engineering, procurement, and construction firm for its commercial scale lithium hydroxide refinery, and selected and contracted the global firm Black & Veatch as its lead EPC firm.
As ABTC ramped commissioning of its battery recycling operations, cash used in operations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 increased by $3.2 million from the prior fiscal year to $13.4 million.
ABTC streamlined operations and minimized shares issued for external consulting operations, resulting in expenses recognized for shares issued for services during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 decreased by $12.4 million from the prior fiscal year to $9.3 million.
As ABTC prioritized the development of its first-of-kind battery recycling and lithium manufacturing operations, the company recorded $7.7 million in research and development costs for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, an increase of $6.7 million when compared to the prior fiscal year. The company recorded an offset to research and development costs of $0.9 million and $0.1 million for federal grant funds recognized for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
ABTC accelerated and expanded its lithium-ion battery recycling business by purchasing a 137,00 square foot commercial-scale battery recycling facility previously used for the recycling of lead-acid batteries. The company is in the final commissioning stages of the first phase of this first commercial-scale recycling facility which will house ABTC's first-of-kind integrated battery recycling system which utilizes a strategic de-manufacturing and targeted chemical extraction train in order to recover battery materials with high yields, low cost, and with a low environmental footprint. These processes are fundamentally different than conventional methods of battery recycling, which utilize high temperature furnaces, such as smelting, or non-strategic shredding or grinding systems. The ABTC system results in battery metals separation, recovery and purification of high-value, battery-grade products with less environmental impact and greater potential cost efficiencies than conventional methods.
In the first phase, battery materials will be recycled into products including copper, aluminum, steel, a lithium intermediate, and a black mass intermediate material. Once the second phase of this integrated recycling facility is operational, this lithium intermediate will be further refined into a battery grade lithium hydroxide product, and the black mass intermediate material will be further refined into battery grade nickel, cobalt, manganese, and lithium hydroxide products.
ABTC was one of five companies nation-wide selected for a $10 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant for a $20 million project to support the commercialization of these new technologies. Under the battery recycling portion of the 'Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Recycling and Second Life Applications' opportunity from the U.S. DOE in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, ABTC and its partners intend to validate, test, and deploy three new first-of-kind disruptive advanced separation and processing technologies to further enhance the economic competitiveness, reduce environmental impact, and re-integrate an even greater percentage of the constituent components to the domestic battery manufacturing market.
Primary Lithium Resources Development
Also in FY2023, ABTC further explored and evaluated its 10,340-acre lithium-bearing claystone deposit near Tonopah, Nevada. The exploration of ABTC Tonopah Flats Lithium Project resulted in the publishing of a SK-1300 compliant maiden resource report. This report, written by the third-party firm RESPEC, LLC acting as the Qualified Person (QP), concluded that this is one of the largest known lithium resources in the United States. Based on report recommendations, the company continues to evolve this domestic resource towards upgrading from the current 'inferred' resource to 'measured and indicated' resource classification, and also to proceed through the permitting operations to commercialize this domestic critical material resource.
Primary Lithium-Hydroxide Refining
In order to broaden the resource base for U.S. domestic production of critical lithium materials, ABTC in collaboration with DuPont and the University of Nevada, Reno, and supported by funding from the US DOE, has developed an integrated, developed a first-of-kind processing train specifically designed to access the lithium in these types of unconventional resources to produce a low-cost and low environmental impact lithium hydroxide monohydrate product that meets the rigorous specifications for use in high energy density battery cathode manufacturing.
This year, ABTC successfully completed the initial phase of this project and has demonstrated its lithium-hydroxide refining system produces product that meets all third-party battery cathode grade specifications. This validation included the collection of feedstock material from ABTC's domestic sedimentary claystone resource, the selective leaching of lithium from this feedstock, the purification of the generated leachate solution, the conversion of this solution into a lithium hydroxide material, and the purification and crystallization of this material into solid lithium hydroxide monohydrate powder. Additionally, the company completed a techno-economic analysis that demonstrated at commercial scale ABTC's internally-developed technologies produce a lithium hydroxide material with production costs that are lower than when manufactured from conventional resources and with conventional technologies.
As a result of the early successes of these efforts, in the Fall of 2022 ABTC was selected by the U.S. DOE for an additional $57 million grant award for a $115 million project to construct a commercial-scale lithium hydroxide refinery based on these first-of-kind technologies.
ABTC engaged one of the premier global construction firms, Black & Veatch, for the engineering, procurement, and construction firms of its commercial scale lithium hydroxide refinery based on these fundamental metallurgical and mineral processing techniques.
The company recently issued a shareholder letter noting milestones and its recent uplist to the Nasdaq Capital Market exchange. Read the full letter: American Battery Technology Company Shareholder Letter 2023.
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.
Inferred Resource
Inferred mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. The level of geological uncertainty associated with an inferred mineral resource is too high to apply relevant technical and economic factors likely to influence the prospects of economic extraction in a manner useful for evaluation of economic viability. Because an inferred mineral resource has the lowest level of geological confidence of all mineral resources, which prevents the application of the modifying factors in a manner useful for evaluation of economic viability, an inferred mineral resource may not be considered when assessing the economic viability of a mining project and may not be converted to a mineral reserve.
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, 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.
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