Aqua Metals secures $1.5M loan, reports operational strides

Lithium-ion battery recycling Aqua Metals Inc., Reno, Nevada, has announced what it calls significant operational milestones at its pilot facility, as well as the successful closing of a $1.5 million bridge loan to fund operations while it continues to pursue ongoing due diligence and initiatives for long-term financing.

RELATED: Aqua Metals continues pursuing Sierra ARC financing

From its pilot plant in the Reno area, Aqua Metals is working to demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of its proprietary Li AquaRefining process. The company says December highlights from its pilot plant include:

• High recovery rates: The company says it achieved more than 99% recovery rates for lithium, cobalt and nickel from black mass using its proprietary leaching process and 100 percent recycled solvent, lowering recycling costs and eliminating waste.
• Battery-grade lithium carbonate: The company says it produced more than 600 pounds of battery-grade lithium carbonate in December.
• Nickel and cobalt production: The company’s technology is recovering nickel at more than 96.5 percent purity and cobalt at slightly more than 99 percent purity. Aqua metals says it has designed its Sierra ARC to achieve consistent battery-grade metals production.
• Enhanced process controls: the plant has demonstrated controls that improved throughput and efficiency, setting the stage for scalability at the commercial level.
• Continuous operations: Aqua Metals says it successfully operated the pilot facility around the clock for three weeks, achieving more than 90 percent uptime.

“This campaign is a testament to Aqua Metals’ potential to revolutionize sustainable lithium battery recycling,” President and CEO Steve Cotton says. “We have repeatedly proven our ability to recover critical battery metals sustainably, efficiently and in a very scalable manner, at a quality that meets the needs of global battery manufacturers.”

To support its ongoing due diligence process and initiatives, Aqua Metals says it has closed a $1.5 million bridge loan, with more than 50 percent being funded by management and members of its board of directors. The company says the financing provides additional capital to advance its efforts to secure a definitive agreement on its long-term financing, with management anticipating a resolution in the first quarter of 2025.

The company says the bridge loan is meant to ensure it remains positioned to finalize its long-term financing, which would support the buildout of the Sierra ARC commercial facility and its future growth.

“We view this bridge loan as a necessary strategic step to maintain momentum while advancing critical commercial agreements and securing funding,” Cotton says. “Our focus remains on finalizing strategic long-term financing, which will enable us to scale operations at the Sierra ARC and significantly expand the U.S. capacity for sustainable battery recycling.”