Materials extraction, mining, and battery recycling firm American Battery Metals Corporation (ABMC) has announced plans for a lithium-ion battery recycling plant in its home state of Nevada, US.
The company said on 7 January it would build a scalable, commercial lithium-ion battery recycling facility that would be fully operational in the second half of this year.
ABMC’s chief executive Doug Cole (pictured), said the facility would have a throughput of around 20,000 tons of feedstock per year from which it would redeploy metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel back into the materials supply chain.
He said: “To put that into context, currently, less than 3% of lithium-ion batteries— or approximately 90,000 tons (2018)— are recycled globally. Our facility and process will make us one of the largest lithium-ion battery recyclers in the world.”
The project is being managed by the firm’s chief technical officer Ryan Melsert.
He said “This ABMC recycling process is designed to recycle not only end-of-life battery packs, but also material waste from every step of the manufacturing process.
“Instead of attempting to fit these battery materials into existing metal recycling facilities, we’ve developed a first-of-its-kind processing process designed specifically for these battery materials and for the production of battery grade feedstocks.”
ABMC has contracted Australian-based company VCM Group as its construction project management and engineering, procurement, construction management firm.
