Published: December 9, 2022 |

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American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) said it will receive funding to expand the U.S. manufacturing of battery-grade lithium hydroxide for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, with a focus on domestic materials processing and components currently imported from other countries.

ABTC said that — along with grant partners DuPont Water Solutions, University of Nevada, Reno, and Argonne National Laboratory — it was awarded $57 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to design and operate a $115 million commercial-scale facility.

This is part of the first phase of over $7 billion provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the battery supply chain. ABCT, along with DuPont and the University of Nevada, previously received a $4.5 million grant from the DOE in 2021, to build a multi-ton per day demonstration system.

The plan is to manufacture battery cathode-grade lithium hydroxide from unconventional Nevada-based lithium-bearing sedimentary resources.

By demonstrating this low-cost and low-environmental impact process, the U.S. lithium resource base can be expanded. According to ABTC, this would allow the U.S. battery manufacturing supply chain to operate in a self-sustaining closed loop.

The award was announced at the White House, which included a conversation about the importance of this project between President Joe Biden, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert.

“We are honored and excited to be selected for this investment from the U.S. government to accelerate the construction and commissioning of our first-of-kind commercial scale lithium refinery to manufacture battery-grade metals from Nevada-based sedimentary claystone resources,” ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert said in a statement.

“The US has unfortunately been essentially a non-player in the lithium manufacturing industry in recent decades, and while the nation has established large amounts of multi-billion-dollar electrical vehicle and lithium-ion battery factories in recent years, nearly 100% of the lithium materials that feed these facilities are imported from foreign countries,” Melsert added.

The majority of lithium products manufactured globally use brines or hard rock ores as feedstock material, and less than 1 percent of these lithium products come from within the U.S., according to the company.

In addition to securing a U.S. supply of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, the project will provide local jobs, infrastructure improvements, educational opportunities, and other economic developments.

Building off its partnership with the University of Nevada, ABTC said it would work to expand STEM education for disadvantaged communities and student internship opportunities.

University of Nevada president Brian Sandoval said ABTC demonstrates leadership in developing technology and will provide a new energy economy on the campus.

“Through the creation of jobs and internships, they are giving new experiences to our students and contributing to the preparedness and diversity of our future scientists and the nation,” Sandoval said in a statement.

Source: Proactive Investors

About American Battery Technology Company
American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), 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. ABTC 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.

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