ABTC signs $20M term sheet for prepurchase of recycled battery metal products

American Battery Technology Company (ABTC), a Reno, Nevada-based lithium-ion (LIB) battery recycler, has executed a term sheet agreement with global marketing and supply chain platform TechMet-Mercuria for a $20 million nondilutive prepayment for the purchase of its recycled battery metal products.

ABTC has developed an integrated process for the recycling of LIBs into battery-grade metals for resale into the domestic battery manufacturing supply chain to facilitate a closed-loop economy. Currently completing construction, the company says its first integrated recycling facility in Nevada is designed to process over 20,000 metric tons of battery feedstock material per year.

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The company says its facility will be commissioned in phases, and with the first phase operational, 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 the facility is operational, the lithium intermediate will be further refined into a battery-grade lithium hydroxide product, while the black mass intermediate material will be further refined into battery-grade nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium hydroxide products.

ABTC has signed a term sheet agreement for the sale of this black mass intermediate material during the first phase of operations of this facility with TechMet-Mercuria SA, which is a joint venture incorporated in Switzerland between TechMet Limited, a private company dedicated to building projects that produce, process and recycle technology metals critical to electric vehicles (EVs), and Mercuria, an integrated independent energy and commodities trading company. The terms include an upfront nondilutive prepayment of $20 million for black mass intermediate material and a marketing arrangement for the sale of this material to end-use customers.

“We are excited to be entering into this prepurchase and marketing agreement with one of the premier global metals marketing firms in the battery metals industry,” ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert says. “As we ramp operations at our first integrated lithium-ion battery recycling facility, the short-term sale of these intermediate products will be a key enabler to accelerating the implementation of the additional phases of our operations to manufacture commercial quantities of cathode-grade battery metal products for domestic markets.”

Having executed the term sheet, the companies say they are now working to formalize these agreements into definitive documents in the coming weeks. Jett Capital Advisors LLC acted as the financial advisor to ABTC.

“We are excited by our developing relationship with American Battery Technology Company and look forward to extending the global reach of our platform to ABTC as it develops its recycling capabilities,” says Robert Morris and Quentin Lamarche of TechMet-Mercuria.