Critical Minerals Recovery: ABTC Scales Domestic Battery Processing
Critical Minerals Recovery
Speaking at The Battery Show in Detroit, American Battery Technology Company chief executive Ryan Melsert told Waste360 that the company’s Nevada recycling facility has reached cash-flow positive operation after roughly fivefold revenue growth in fiscal 2026.
Melsert was blunt that the revenue figure is the less interesting number. A new recycling plant that runs in a financially self-sustaining fashion is the milestone, achieved by lifting throughput while driving operational efficiencies through the facility.
That framing reflects a market that has been through boom and bust. Several battery recyclers that could not operate profitably have not moved forward, and Melsert noted the thinning of the field has allowed survivors to build longer-term relationships with suppliers and customers.
The Feedstock Mix Is Shifting
The Nevada plant processes batteries from electric vehicles, consumer electronics, manufacturing scrap and grid-scale energy storage systems. Melsert said the mix has moved noticeably toward heavier stationary batteries as early grid-scale projects reach end of life.
A second, larger facility is planned for the southeastern United States. With a West Coast and an East Coast site, the company expects to form regional partnerships and cut logistics and transportation costs, which are a real component of recycling economics.
Black Mass, Export Controls and Domestic Refining
Federal export controls have introduced a temporary one-year ban on exporting recycled black mass. ABTC holds an exception for that period, but Melsert argued the policy’s real objective is to build domestic refineries capable of processing black mass rather than shipping it abroad.
The company had already begun designing and building its own black mass refinery before the restriction took effect, following the spirit of the directive ahead of the rule.
On competitiveness, Melsert made a distinction that is often blurred. Recycled metals can already be produced in the United States at lower cost than virgin metals; the genuine competition is imported minerals, because domestic primary production of these elements is thin.
Policy Consistency Beats Policy Intensity
Incentives for domestic sourcing and tariffs on imports are powerful levers, Melsert said, but they need to stay in place longer than a political cycle. Designing, building and operating a factory takes years; rewriting the rules every two years runs on an incompatible timescale.
He described an end-of-life battery as essentially the perfect mine, containing the required elements in roughly the ratios needed to build a new cell.
Keeping Batteries Out of the Waste Stream
Lithium-ion cells in garbage trucks, material recovery facilities and landfills remain a serious fire hazard. Melsert’s answer is capacity plus economics: more recycling plants create more productive destinations, and the metal value means operators can pay for end-of-life material.
If a consumer knows they can be paid for returning a battery rather than binning it, market forces do the work. Public education and expanding collection networks, including ABTC’s work with The Battery Network, make that pathway simple enough to use.
His long view is a balance problem. There was no such thing as a gigafactory about a decade ago; the United States now has more than 40 and very few recycling plants. At steady state, each region needs recycling throughput that matches its manufacturing throughput.
Engineer Resource Recovery Capacity That Pays for Itself
Klean Industries delivers resource recovery and advanced thermal processing plants turnkey with KBR, which means performance-guaranteed, fully bankable facilities with the technology risk carried by the contractor rather than the owner. Guarantees are written against throughput, recovery yield and product specification.
The evidence is operational. Klean technologies run at commercial scale today, including the commercial recovered carbon black plant in Poland, and that record is what underwrites financing for first-of-a-kind recovery capacity.
We offer both routes. License the technology and build it yourself, or have KBR deliver the plant turnkey under full guarantees. Either way, start with a feasibility study that proves feedstock supply, recovery economics and offtake before capital is committed.
Contact Klean Industries » GO.
Learn More:
You can return to the main Market News page, or press the Back button on your browser.
