Initial shipment of lithium ore feedstock has been funded and being shipped as part of overall offtake partnership from South African sources
ReElement will develop initial processing capacity in the United States with concurrent development of up to 80% of processing in local economies in Africa
FISHERS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / June 27, 2023 / American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:AREC) (“American Resources” or the “Company”), a next generation and socially responsible supplier of rare earth and critical elements, carbon and advanced carbon materials, as previously announced, has entered into an offtake from its South African partners and has funded and commenced the initial shipment of lithium spodumene to the United States for refining, with a goal of having refining capacity in the United States as well as large scale capacity throughout Africa. The Company is in site selection for its initial South African refining facility and has also narrowed down its U.S. based site selection for lithium refining capacity of 120,000 metric tons per year to four states (West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana).
Mark Jensen, CEO of American Resources Corporation commented, “This is an exciting moment for our Company as we can showcase our technology and broaden its impact on the world stage as a rapidly scalable and deployable technology for lithium and critical mineral refining to a high purity, battery-grade material with an industry low capex requirement and environmental impact. With our strong relationships throughout the African continent, our goal is to flip the narrative of exporting raw materials to importing high value technology to benefit the local economies though job creation and high taxable revenue. Due to expediency, we will initially commence processing in the United States to enable our mining partners to scale up production while we build out our localized African refining capacity. Our initial U.S. processing capacity is being designed to handle approximately 120,000 metric ton of lithium spodumene annually producing approximately 15,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide monohydrate or carbonate.”
The initial locations chosen for site selections in the United States are at locations controlled by the Company or its partners. As previously stated, American Resources and its subsidiaries are collaborating with its South African partners on the site selection for a future African refining facility that will be located at or close to regional ports. This facility will process a majority of the materials from South Africa to significantly reduce the costs and carbon footprint associated with transporting unrefined lithium ores and will also add value to the local African communities by bringing new, cutting-edge technologies to the region. The facility is anticipated to process lithium spodumene ores in a manner that yields ultra-pure, battery-grade lithium carbonate or hydroxide, which can then be used as a commercial grade feedstock for either domestic battery manufacturers in the United States or local battery production in the area.
