ABTC says it remains focused on the future

Its plans to build a lithium-ion battery recycling pilot plant in Nevada have fallen behind schedule, providing one of the reasons American Battery Technology Co. (ABTC) was targeted as a stock short-selling prospect in late 2020 and early 2021 internet postings.

The firm, formerly known as American Battery Metals Corp., indicated in mid-2020 that its plans to build a facility in Fernley, Nevada, could come to fruition by the end of last year. Subsequently, the company has changed its name slightly to its current ABTC iteration and was the target of the skeptical blog entries on the SeekingAlpha.com website. Those posts also have questioned ABTC’s cash flow and its ability to secure adequate lithium-ion battery supply to feed its prospective plant.

Menka Sethi, ABTC’s chief operating officer, tells Recycling Today the company is now targeting the facility in Fernley to be operational before the end of 2021.

Sethi says the company “finished the detailed design of its integrated lithium-ion battery recycling processing train” more than a year ago, and “since then we have been focusing on scaling and commercializing our recycling process.”

The process being designed, says Sethi, is intended to accept a wide range of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, including: nickel cobalt oxide manganese (NCM) batteries used in E-bikes, medical devices and electric vehicles (EVs); lithium manganese oxide (LMO) batteries “commonly used in power tools, medical instruments and EVs;” lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) batteries, which can be found in mobile phones, tablets, laptops and digital cameras; and lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) types, which also are used in medical devices, EVs “and other industrial applications,” according to Sethi.

Sethi says she does not see securing supply as a hurdle for the company. “ABTC is in discussions with multiple companies who are anxious to sign contracts and begin shipping us their rechargeable lithium-ion batteries,” she tells Recycling Today. “We are seeing an over-supply of li-ion batteries that can be and need to be recycled.”