White House Representatives Visit with American Battery Technology Company to Discuss Progressing Circular Economy for Domestic Battery Materials

CEO Ryan Melsert touts federal investments and strategic partnerships as instrumental in company's accelerating commercialization efforts  

RENO, Nev., Aug. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) (OTCQX: ABML), an American critical battery materials company that is commercializing both its primary battery minerals manufacturing and secondary minerals lithium-ion battery recycling technologies, continues to leverage top talent, in-house technologies, strategic partnerships, and federal investments to progress supply of domestically-sourced lithium-ion battery metals.  ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert highlighted the company's capabilities and progress in a presentation to National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Sethuraman Panchanathan and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Arati Prabhakar on their recent visit to Northern Nevada.

"We are proud to be part of the Nevada community that is at the forefront of working to build the domestic lithium-ion battery supply chain," stated ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert.  "We have been fortunate enough to have been awarded four competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance both our lithium-ion battery recycling and our primary lithium hydroxide manufacturing facilities, and we enjoyed the opportunity to detail the progress of these current and prospective future projects with Director Panchanathan and Director Prabhakar, and to partner with the University of Nevada, Reno to advance the domestic lithium-ion battery circular economy."

While there is a large number of battery cell and electric vehicle manufacturing facilities under construction in the U.S., there is a large void in the domestic supply chain upstream of these facilities resulting in a significant shortage in the amount of domestic and environmentally responsible battery materials required to feed these facilities. ABTC is working to address this shortfall by commercializing its technologies both for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and for the manufacturing of battery grade lithium hydroxide from its domestic Nevada-based sedimentary claystone resource.

ABTC is a member of the team supporting the University of Nevada, Reno's NSF Regional Engines Development project for "Advancing the circular economy for lithium batteries" and has strategically developed public-private partnerships to accelerate the manufacturing of domestic battery metals from secondary and primary sources to strengthen the U.S. battery metals supply chain.

In addition to this recent NSF funded project, ABTC has been awarded several competitive awards from private corporations and the federal government.

American Battery Technology Company: Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Technology Innovations
BASF Circularity Challenge @ Greentown Labs
Hosted by BASF, one of the largest active cathode producers in the U.S., in partnership with Greentown Labs and Black & Decker, ABTC was named sole winner of its lithium-ion battery recycling global competition.

U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC)
ABTC received a $2 million contract award from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), for the commercial demonstration of its integrated lithium-ion battery recycling system and production of battery cathode grade metal products, the synthesis of high energy density active cathode material from these recycled battery metals by cathode producer and lithium-ion battery recycler BASF, and then the fabrication of large format automotive battery cells from these recycled materials and the testing of these cells against otherwise identical cells made from virgin sourced metals by cell technology developer C4V.

U.S. DOE Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Recycling and Second Life Applications Grant
As one of five companies selected for competitive funding under the battery recycling portion of the 'Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Recycling and Second Life Applications' funding opportunity from the U.S.DOE, ABTC, and its partners, were awarded close to $10 million to validate, test, and deploy three disruptive advanced separation and processing technologies in its lithium-ion battery recycling plant 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.  ABTC will work in partnership with Novonix Group, University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), University of Utah, North Carolina State University, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Idaho National Laboratory.

American Battery Technology Company: Nevada Claystone Lithium Extraction Innovations
U.S. DOE Critical Materials Next Generation Technologies and Field Demonstration Grant
ABTC, in collaboration with DuPont and UNR, is currently constructing and commissioning a multi-ton per day field demonstration system through the support of a grant from the U.S. DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office Critical Materials Innovation program.

Following the completion of construction, the site will utilize ABTC's in-house developed extraction process including selective leaching and targeted purification of battery grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate from this unique domestic claystone resource. This first-of-kind ABTC technology for selective extraction of lithium from claystone resources has demonstrated at bench scale to significantly reduce chemical reagent consumption and environmental impact.

U.S. DOE Battery Materials Processing and Manufacturing Grant
As a result of the early successes of ABTC's Nevada lithium claystone selective leaching field demonstration project, in October 2022 ABTC was selected for an additional competitively awarded U.S. DOE grant for a $115M project partially funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support the construction of a commercial-scale battery grade lithium hydroxide manufacturing facility.

About American Battery Technology Company
American Battery Technology Company, which recently changed its name from American Battery Metals Corporation, is uniquely positioned to supply low-cost, low-environmental impact, and domestically sourced battery metals through its three divisions: lithium-ion battery recycling, primary battery metal extraction technologies, and primary resources development.

American Battery Technology Company has built a clean technology platform that is used to provide a key source of domestically manufactured critical and strategic battery metals to help meet the near insatiable demand from the electric vehicle, electrical grid storage, and consumer electronics industries. This ESG-principled platform works to create a closed-loop circular economy for battery metals that champions ethical and environmentally sustainable sourcing of critical and strategic materials.

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, 2022. The Company assumes no obligation to update any of the information contained or referenced in this press release.

SOURCE American Battery Technology Company