American Battery Technology has received a letter of interest from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) for $900 million in financing to support the construction of a lithium mine and refinery near Tonopah, Nev.
“We appreciate this support from EXIM and are proud of this further validation that our mission is closely aligned with the government’s dedication to serve the American people,” said CEO Ryan Melsert. “This proposed financial support can greatly accelerate the commercialization of our domestic critical mineral mine and refinery, and we are excited to implement at scale these first-of-kind technologies that we have been demonstrating over the past several years.”
In March, President Donald Trump invoked emergency powers to boost domestic production of critical minerals as part of a broad effort to offset China’s near-total control of the sector. The EO directed federal agencies, including EXIM, to unlock permitting, funding and offtake agreements for critical minerals, including rare earths.
American Battery Technology has partnered with Black & Veatch for the commercial scale design and construction of the 30,000-tonne-per-year lithium hydroxide refinery project.
The company has already successfully demonstrated its technologies at pilot scale and manufactured battery-grade lithium hydroxide from claystone collected from its Tonopah Flats lithium resource, one of the largest known lithium deposits in the United States.