American Battery Technology Co (OTCMKTS: ABML) is beginning to see some upward momentum and volume has picked up dramatically after the Company was awarded $57.7 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) to build its $115 million Commercial-Scale Battery Manufacturing Facility in Nevada. This award was announced during a Presidential event at the White House, which included a direct conversation about the importance of this project between U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert.  Right now, 75% of battery manufacturing is done in China,’’ Biden said. “By undercutting U.S. manufacturing with their unfair subsidies and trade practices, China seized a significant portion of the (battery) market. Today we’re stepping up to … take it back — not all of it, but bold goals and actions to make sure we’re back in the (battery production) game in a big way.’’ Ryan Melsert, CEO of American Battery Technology Co. in Reno, Nevada, told Biden that U.S. intervention in the battery market was overdue. “Unfortunately, the U.S. is almost a non-player in the lithium game,’’ Melsert said, noting that less than 1% of lithium products globally are made in the U.S. His company, which makes lithium hydroxide for battery cathodes, is changing that, along with other grant recipients, Melsert said. “Vehicle manufacturers are really hungry to buy these materials from U.S.-based resources,’’ he told Biden. 

Earlier this week ABTC completed its Phase 2 drill program, consisting of six additional sites in addition to the 16-holes sampled in its Phase 1 program, completing the exploration program in its permitted 22-hole plan at its 10,340 acre Tonopah Flats Lithium Project in Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. The Company detected large lithium concentrations above 300 ppmw, with a peak concentration of 1,920 ppmw. After reviewing the highly promising initial results from the company’s exploration operations confirming that the lithium-bearing deposit extends even beyond the previously sampled 500 feet depth, ABTC has engaged RESPEC, a global engineering and design company, to act as an independent firm and as a Qualified Person (QP) to perform an independent analysis of these exploration results and to generate and issue a SK-1300 compliant Inferred Resource report. his independent report will quantify the magnitude of this lithium-bearing resource and the extent to which the resource is economically accessible, and this QP Inferred Resource report will contain specific recommendations on even further progressing this resource forward to a Measured and Indicated status as defined by the United States Geological Services (USGS).  

American Battery Technology Co (OTCMKTS: ABML) is an industry leading clean technology innovator that has been created to increase the production of primary metals used in batteries that power electric cars, grid storage applications, and consumer electronics.  ABTC has built its capabilities to produce these battery metals through three business divisions: 1) recycling of lithium-ion batteries to recover battery metals, 2) extraction from primary resources, and 3) exploration of new primary resources. Together, the three approaches comprise a unique technologies platform that ensures battery metals are domestically sourced and re-used in an environmentally friendly, closed-loop fashion. ABTC’s multi-pronged approach builds the foundation for a circular economy of battery metals that supports a global shift away from fossil fuel energy sources. ABT subsidiary Lithium Ore has 1,040 placer mining claims on over 20,000 acres in the area known as the Western Nevada Basin, situated in Railroad Valley in Nye County, Nevada. ABT also owns a 120-acre property with water rights, in the town of Duckwater, NV near Railroad Valley.

The company began construction on the ABTC Pilot Plant for lithium-ion battery recycling in the first fiscal quarter of 2022, and to date, construction of the Phase 1 building is largely complete, with additional equipment procurement, component and utility installations, and offsite improvements in process.  ABTC anticipates beginning commissioning of Phase 1 of the plant by year-end 2022, and ramping throughput throughout calendar 2023. 

In October of 2021, ABTC received two government awards: a $4.5 million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office Critical Materials Innovation program to advance the company’s first-of-kind processes to extract and manufacture lithium hydroxide from its lithium-bearing sedimentary resources in Tonopah, and a $2 million grant from the US Advanced Battery Consortium to demonstrate the recovery of battery materials from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, the subsequent refinement of those materials into high energy density active cathode material, and for the fabrication and testing of full size automotive lithium-ion batteries from these recycled-content materials. 

Earlier this week ABML reported it has completed its Phase 2 drill program, consisting of six additional sites in addition to the 16-holes sampled in its Phase 1 program, completing the exploration program in its permitted 22-hole plan at its 10,340 acre Tonopah Flats Lithium Project in Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. The drilling infrastructure employed in the Phase 1 program was able to drill to a depth of approximately 500 feet, and in several of the drill holes there was still significant mineralization of lithium present at these final depths, indicating that the anomalous lithium concentrations could be present at even greater depths. A major goal of the company’s Phase 2 drill program was to employ drilling infrastructure that could sample at even greater depths, and in this program the team was able to successfully drill to deeper depths with the deepest hole ending at 885 feet. 

Characterization results from the assays from holes TF-2218 and TF-2219 have been received from Paragon Geochemical laboratory in Reno, Nevada, and the data confirms that the anomalous lithium-bearing claystone witnessed in previous holes continues well below the previous 500′ known depth of mineralization. Hole TF-2218 is measured to have a very shallow overburden of approximately 40 feet, after which 100% of the sampled material down to a final depth of 710 feet contains claystone with lithium concentrations above 300 ppmw, with a peak concentration of 1,920 ppmw. Hole TF-2219 is also observed to have a very shallow overburden of approximately 45 feet, after which 94% of the sampled material down to a final depth of 685-ft contains claystone with lithium concentrations above 300 ppmw, with a peak concentration of 1,940 ppmw. 

After reviewing these highly promising initial results from the company’s exploration operations confirming that the lithium-bearing deposit extends even beyond the previously sampled 500 feet depth, ABTC has engaged RESPEC, a global engineering and design company, to act as an independent firm and as a Qualified Person (QP) to perform an independent analysis of these exploration results and to generate and issue a SK-1300 compliant Inferred Resource report. This independent report will quantify the magnitude of this lithium-bearing resource and the extent to which the resource is economically accessible, and this QP Inferred Resource report will contain specific recommendations on even further progressing this resource forward to a Measured and Indicated status as defined by the United States Geological Services (USGS). 

These sampling and characterization efforts provide the foundation for the validation and commercialization of ABTC’s internally developed, selective lithium leaching and lithium hydroxide manufacturing technologies that are critical to solving the domestic and global critical battery metals challenges. 

The ABTC Tonopah Flats Lithium Exploration Project encompasses 517 unpatented lode claims covering approximately 10,340 acres. As part of the company’s battery metals resource development exploration efforts, ABTC is performing bench scale characterization and extraction trials to confirm the technical and economic competitiveness of extracting elemental lithium from these domestic sedimentary resources in order to produce battery grade lithium hydroxide for sale to the domestic battery metals market. ABTC, in collaboration with DuPont, was awarded a $4.5M grant from the US Department of Energy to build and operate a multi-ton per day demonstration-scale system to accelerate the commercialization and scale-up of this critical lithium manufacturing technology. 

QA/QC Statement 

Drilling was conducted by Drillrite LLC, Spring Creek, Nevada, using a track mounted reverse circulation drill. Sampling was conducted using a cyclone splitter over 5-foot intervals. Sample custody was maintained by the company’s consultants throughout the sampling and logging process and observed by employees of RESPEC. The company has a rigorous QA/QC program utilizing blanks, duplicates, and a high and a low-grade lithium standard material. Duplicates and standard material are inserted into the sample stream, and blank material was inserted at the start and finish of drill hole sample set. Samples were analyzed by Paragon Geochemical in Sparks, Nevada for analysis utilizing the ICP-MS analysis protocol. 

Also this week the Company announced it has hired former manager of Tesla’s Factory Infrastructure Design team, Mitchell Dreier, as its Director of Engineering, reporting to ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert. Recently Mr. Dreier led a team of multi-disciplinary engineers, designers, and project managers that delivered all infrastructure design for Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada advancing key company programs such as Cell Manufacturing, Semi, Megapack, and Powertrain. Of note, Dreier recently managed the design of Tesla’s first advanced water treatment facility, allowing factory processes to consume reclaimed water and recycle process water to achieve a near zero liquid discharge facility.  

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What’s that? Oh nothing too crazy, just a small lil $57,000,000 investment into $ABML from @ENERGY is allhttps://t.co/tVguSENAF5 pic.twitter.com/8eNgxosk2F

— CFO (@dead_sh0tt) October 19, 2022

On October 21 AMBL announced it was selected as a recipient of competitive funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand domestic manufacturing of battery grade lithium hydroxide for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, with a focus on domestic processing of materials and components that are currently imported from foreign countries. 

In collaboration with grant partners DuPont Water Solutions, University of Nevada, Reno, and Argonne National Laboratory, ABTC was awarded $57 million towards this project from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to design, construct, commission, and operate a first-of-kind commercial scale facility to demonstrate its novel process for the manufacturing of battery cathode grade lithium hydroxide from unconventional Nevada-based lithium-bearing sedimentary resources. By demonstrating at commercial scale this new low-cost and low-environmental impact process for manufacturing lithium products from unconventional sedimentary resources, the domestic-U.S. lithium resource base can be expanded and allow for the U.S. battery manufacturing supply chain to operate in a self-sustaining closed-loop fashion.  This award was announced during a Presidential event at the White House, which included a direct conversation about the importance of this project between U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert. 

The conversation went like this according to the washingtonpost: Ryan Melsert, CEO of American Battery Technology Co. in Reno, Nevada, told Biden that U.S. intervention in the battery market was overdue. “Unfortunately, the U.S. is almost a non-player in the lithium game,’’ Melsert said, noting that less than 1% of lithium products globally are made in the U.S.  

His company, which makes lithium hydroxide for battery cathodes, is changing that, along with other grant recipients, Melsert said. “Vehicle manufacturers are really hungry to buy these materials from U.S.-based resources,’’ he told Biden.” 

This grant accelerates progress on the demonstration and facility commercialization efforts already underway, as ABTC, in collaboration with DuPont and the University of Nevada, Reno, was awarded a $4.5M grant from the US Department of Energy in 2021 to build and operate a multi-ton per day demonstration-scale system to accelerate the commercialization and scale-up of this critical lithium manufacturing technology. 

ABML CEO Ryan Melsert stated: “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. The U.S. 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.”

The US Department of Energy has announced the selection of American Battery Technology Company for a grant award to construct a $115M first-of-kind commercial scale facility.
Watch live on Youtube, starting at 3pm Eastern. https://t.co/jJlGSnboVg

— American Battery Technology Company (@abt_company) October 19, 2022

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Currently trading at a $375 million market valuation ABML OS is 644,138,631 shares. The Company has an excellent financial position with $56 million in assets $36 million in cash and about $3.5 million in liabilities. AMBL is an exciting story developing in small caps that is looking to uplist to a national exchange. The Company has a unique comprehensive, integrated business model that includes three diversified business units under one roof: Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling, Primary Metals Manufacturing, and Primary Resource Development. Currently the stock is moving northbound since reversing off $0.48 lows on accelerating volume as the Company makes steady progress at its plant in Fernley, Nevada strategically located 20 miles from Tesla’s Gigafactory project investing $10.8 million in construction just over the past year. To date, construction of the Phase 1 building is largely complete, with additional equipment procurement, component and utility installations, and offsite improvements in process.  ABTC anticipates beginning commissioning of Phase 1 of the plant by year-end 2022, and ramping throughput throughout calendar 2023. The stock is beginning to see some upward momentum and volume has picked up dramatically after the Company was awarded $57.7 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) to build its $115 million Commercial-Scale Battery Manufacturing Facility in Nevada. ABML has looks to be moving northbound since reversing off $0.48 lows, the stock has every reason to continue up from here and well into multi dollars from here. We will be updating on ABML when more details emerge so make sure you are subscribed to Microcapdaily so you know what’s going on with ABML. Microcapdaily firest reported on ABML when the stock was $0.03.

Disclosure: we hold no position in ABML either long or short and we have not been compensated for this article.