American Battery Technology Company may lose $57M in federal funding for its proposed roughly $900M Lithium Refinery Facility at Tonopah Flats in Esmeralda County.
Black & Veatch is serving as the design firm and general contractor for the project. American Battery Technology Company, the owner and developer, released a statement saying it is confident of the progress on the project, and will continue working with the Trump administration to see it through.
The administration previously selected the project as a Priority Project and gave it a streamlined federal permitting process. Additionally, the administration has announced vocal support for domestic production in the past.
ABTC appealed the termination to the Securities and Exchange Commission upon receiving the notice its funds had been rescinded. The company had $52M in unused funding when the decision was made.
Project History
The Lithium Refinery Facility has appeared in multiple subscriber-exclusive NVBEX articles. ABTCpreviously stated it developed a lithium extraction process that can extract lithium without “an abundance or excess of additional minerals and materials that need to be dealt with.”
ABTC aims to establish a domestic supply chain of refined lithium. The company also works on recycling batteries and mining.
The U.S. Department of Energy gave the company a grant in 2021 to expand and demonstrate its extraction process. A little more than a year later, the company received the $57M to design and build a commercial-scale refinery site.
The pilot refinery cost $115M and produced its first battery-grade lithium in May 2024. Phase One is expected to be able to process up to 30,000 tons of lithium hydroxide every year.
Once the company receives a Record of Decision from the Bureau of Land Management, it can begin construction on the refinery facility.
