American Battery Technology Co. said June 8 that it won its appeal with the U.S. Department of Energy and had a $115 million grant reinstated for the first phase of its Tonopah Flats lithium project.
The company said the reinstated award covers construction of a commercial-scale critical mineral lithium refinery with an initial capacity of 5,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per year. The grant returns on the same financial terms, with no change to the funds awarded or the technical and commercial milestones, though the project schedule was updated to reflect time spent in review.
ABTC said it had already completed the first two years of the five-year grant before the award was terminated on Oct. 9, 2025. The company filed its appeal the next day and then went through an informal dispute resolution process with the DOE. ABTC said the review concluded in December 2025, and the department later notified the company that rescinding the termination and continuing the project was warranted.
The Tonopah Flats project had also been designated in June 2025 as a critical mineral priority project by the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council and the FAST-41 permitting council.
ABTC said the project’s October 2025 pre-feasibility study showed a projected after-tax net present value at 8% of $2.57 billion, an internal rate of return of 21.8%, and a production cost of $4,307 per tonne of lithium hydroxide monohydrate.
The company described the grant reinstatement as part of a federal effort that began with earlier DOE support under the first Trump administration, continued with the later grant under the Biden administration, and now resumes under the second Trump administration. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved 27.65% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $3.97. For more information, read the company's full 8-K submission here.
