Comstock Mining Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE American: LODE) today
announced the filing of a Written Determination of Hazardous Waste
Recycling (“Application”) by LINICO Corporation (“LiNiCo”), and its
lithium-ion battery (“LIB”) recycling facility located in the Tahoe
Reno Industrial (“TRI”) Center in Storey County, Nevada (“TRI
Facility”).
The Application and LiNiCo’s final engineering
plans are based on the first phase of LiNiCo’s proprietary LIB
recycling technologies, which have been designed for extraordinary
capacity and yield at a fraction of the capital and operating costs
of all known methods. Those technologies are the direct result of
Comstock’s recently announced and planned additional technology
development, engineering, and materials science acquisitions and
other transactions, including Renewable Process Solution (“RPS”)
and its CEO and Comstock’s new Chief Process Engineer, Rahul
Bobbili.
Construction of the first phase of LiNiCo’s new
processes will commence at the TRI Facility upon approval of the
Application, with an anticipated completion and start-up during the
first half of 2022. Once complete, the TRI Facility is
conservatively expected to scale up to its initial nameplate
capacity exceeding 100,000 tons per year of LIBs over a period of
three years, with annualized revenues exceeding $250,000,000,
$410,000,000, and $505,000,000 per year during the TRI Facility’s
first, second, and third full years of operations, respectively, as
shown in the following excerpt from LiNiCo’s internal
projections:
|
|
2022 |
|
2023 |
|
2024 |
|
2025 |
Throughput (tons per year) |
|
26,880 |
|
53,760 |
|
80,640 |
|
87,091 |
Revenue ($000s per year) |
$ |
90,339 |
$ |
250,814 |
$ |
410,450 |
$ |
505,094 |
Extraordinary Growth
Spent LIBs are widely expected to contain more
than $12 billion in recoverable strategic metals by 2025 and $26
billion by 2040, as global mobile device use increases to about 18
billion by 2025, and electric vehicle (“EV”) sales increase to
about 138 million units by 2030 from 7.6 million in 2020, according
to the International Energy Agency. ARK Invest also recently
concluded that EV sales will increase to about 40% of global auto
sales within five to six years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk provided a
similar estimate, tweeting his view that the industry could produce
30 million EVs per year by 2027. Peter Rawlinson, CEO of Lucid,
said in June 2021 that he believes that there is a growing
recognition that EVs represent the future of the auto industry. And
General Motors recently announced that it will increase spending on
electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion through 2025, with
a target of selling 1,000,000 EVs annually by 2025.
Meeting the increased demand will require about
1.8 million tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent (“LCE”),
or about five times more than the entire lithium mining industry
produces today, and more than fifteen times the total LCE used in
producing new EVs in 2020. The mining and battery manufacturing
industries can scale up to meet that demand, but there are only
about 80 million tons of identified lithium resources worldwide,
and EV batteries are typically landfilled after eight to ten years
of use.
Selective Separation
Technologies
“The first phase of our technologies was all
about establishing and maximizing market leading throughput in a
safe, compliant, and cost-effective manner, with room for modular
capacity expansions as global electrification efforts accelerate
and the LIB recycling industry inevitably grows,” said LiNiCo’s
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Michael Vogel. “However, in
addition to our previously announced Green Li-ion 99.9% pure
cathode production technologies, we are also perfecting a series of
additional technologies involving remarkable and new approaches to
selectively separating strategic commodities from LIBs, starting
with high purity LCE products. We designed the TRI Facility layout
with those future upgrades and technologies in mind.”
Comstock’s Executive Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, Corrado De Gasperis, added, “We see spent LIBs
as a potent form of industrial ore, and – as with any ore, we need
the right team, technology, and infrastructure to mine it. Comstock
and LiNiCo are rapidly assembling all three, as demonstrated by the
extraordinary five-fold leap in the initial throughput of LiNiCo’s
first facility, representing the proverbial tip of our rapidly
developing and expanding technology spear.”
Addressing Scarcity with
Innovation
Comstock believes that the global clean energy
transition, escalating population growth, and accelerating natural
resource scarcity are converging into a “perfect storm” of global
demand in a broad array of strategic materials, including anything
involving carbon, metals, energy, and water – without the
corresponding global capacity to sustainably meet even a fraction
of the demand. Comstock’s strategic focus has consequently shifted
to include the development of companies and technologies that
facilitate the more efficient use of natural resources by
extracting and valorizing critical and inevitably scarce
feedstocks.
De Gasperis concluded, “The consumption of any
product is powered by feedstock, and as vast as some feedstock
supplies may seem, they are all finite. The world is watching that
story unfold in electrification products, with a current focus on
the scarcity of lithium and other cathode constituents, and a
shared goal of reducing global carbon emissions. However, every
cathode in every LIB needs an anode, and the vast majority of
anodes are comprised of synthetic graphite, the global supplies of
which are nearly all met with carbon intensive fossil fuel
derivatives. We see that to be counterproductive, and its exactly
the sort of inevitable need that we intend to address with
innovation. We believe that we’re well positioned ahead of that
curve with LiNiCo’s TRI Facility and our technology development
efforts.”
About Comstock Mining Inc.
Comstock Mining Inc. (NYSE: LODE) is an emerging
innovator and leader in the sustainable extraction, valorization,
and production of scarce natural resources, with a focus on high
value strategic materials that are essential to meeting the rapidly
increasing global demand for clean energy, carbon-neutrality, and
natural products. To learn more, please visit
www.comstockmining.com.
Comstock was selected to join the Russell
Microcap® Index at the conclusion of the 2021 Russell indexes
annual reconstitution, effective after the US market opened on June
4, 2021. Membership in the Russell Microcap® Index, which remains
in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the appropriate
growth and value style indexes. FTSE Russell determines membership
for its Russell indexes primarily by objective,
market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and any related calls or
discussions may include forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are
forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “expect,”
“anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “plan,” “should,” “intend,”
“may,” “will,” “would,” “potential” and similar expressions
identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive
means of doing so. Forward-looking statements include statements
about matters such as: consummation of all pending transactions;
project, asset or Company valuations; future industry market
conditions; future explorations, acquisitions, investments and
asset sales; future performance of and closings under various
agreements; future changes in our exploration activities; future
estimated mineral resources; future prices and sales of, and demand
for, our products; future impacts of land entitlements and uses;
future permitting activities and needs therefor; future production
capacity and operations; future operating and overhead costs;
future capital expenditures and their impact on us; future impacts
of operational and management changes (including changes in the
board of directors); future changes in business strategies,
planning and tactics and impacts of recent or future changes;
future employment and contributions of personnel, including
consultants; future land sales, investments, acquisitions, joint
ventures, strategic alliances, business combinations, operational,
tax, financial and restructuring initiatives; the nature and timing
of and accounting for restructuring charges and derivative
liabilities and the impact thereof; contingencies; future
environmental compliance and changes in the regulatory environment;
future offerings of equity or debt securities; asset sales and
associated costs; future working capital, costs, revenues, business
opportunities, debt levels, cash flows, margins, earnings and
growth. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments
made by our management in light of their experience and their
perception of historical and current trends, current conditions,
possible future developments and other factors they believe to be
appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees,
representations or warranties and are subject to risks and
uncertainties, many of which are unforeseeable and beyond our
control and could cause actual results, developments and business
decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by such
forward-looking statements. Some of those risks and uncertainties
include the risk factors set forth in our filings with the SEC and
the following: counterparty risks; capital markets’ valuation and
pricing risks; adverse effects of climate changes or natural
disasters; global economic and capital market uncertainties; the
speculative nature of gold or mineral exploration, including risks
of diminishing quantities or grades of qualified resources;
operational or technical difficulties in connection with
exploration or mining activities; contests over title to
properties; potential dilution to our stockholders from our stock
issuances and recapitalization and balance sheet restructuring
activities; potential inability to comply with applicable
government regulations or law; adoption of or changes in
legislation or regulations adversely affecting businesses;
permitting constraints or delays; decisions regarding business
opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, us or
others; the impact of, or the non-performance by parties under
agreements relating to, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic
alliances, business combinations, asset sales, leases, options and
investments to which we may be party; changes in the United States
or other monetary or fiscal policies or regulations; interruptions
in production capabilities due to capital constraints; equipment
failures; fluctuation of prices for gold or certain other
commodities (such as silver, zinc, cyanide, water, diesel fuel and
electricity); changes in generally accepted accounting principles;
adverse effects of terrorism and geopolitical events; potential
inability to implement business strategies; potential inability to
grow revenues; potential inability to attract and retain key
personnel; interruptions in delivery of critical supplies,
equipment and raw materials due to credit or other limitations
imposed by vendors or others; assertion of claims, lawsuits and
proceedings; potential inability to satisfy debt and lease
obligations; potential inability to maintain an effective system of
internal controls over financial reporting; potential inability or
failure to timely file periodic reports with the SEC; potential
inability to list our securities on any securities exchange or
market; inability to maintain the listing of our securities; and
work stoppages or other labor difficulties. Occurrence of such
events or circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our
business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows
or the market price of our securities. All subsequent written and
oral forward-looking statements by or attributable to us or persons
acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by
these factors. Except as may be required by securities or other
law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
Neither this press release nor any related calls
or discussions constitutes an offer to sell, the solicitation of an
offer to buy or a recommendation with respect to any securities of
the Company, the fund or any other issuer.
Contact information: |
|
|
Comstock Mining Inc.P.O. Box
1118Virginia City, NV 89440ComstockMining.com |
Corrado De GasperisExecutive
Chairman & CEOTel (775)
847-4755degasperis@comstockmining.com |
Zach SpencerDirector of
External RelationsTel (775) 847-5272
Ext.151questions@comstockmining.com |
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