Correspondence 0001493152-23-005052 from AMERICAN BATTERY TECHNOLOGY Co (ABAT)
AMERICAN BATTERY TECHNOLOGY Co
Date: Feb. 14, 2023 · CIK: 0001576873 · Accession: 0001493152-23-005052
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File numbers found in text: 000-55088
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AMERICAN
BATTERY TECHNOLOGY COMPANY
100
Washington Street, Suite 100
Reno,
NV 89503
Tel:
(775) 473-4744
February
14, 2023
Ms.
Joanna Lam and Mr. Craig Arakawa
Division
of Corporation Finance
Office
of Energy and Transportation
Securities
and Exchange Commission
100
F Street, NE
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Re:
American
Battery Technology Company
Form
10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2022 Filed September 12, 2022
File
No. 000-55088
CIK
No. 0001576873
Dear
Ms. Lam and Mr. Arakawa:
On
behalf of American Battery Technology Company (the “Company”), this letter responds to comments provided by the staff of
the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Staff”), of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”)
provided to the undersigned on January 31, 2023, regarding the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”),
which was filed with the Commission on September 12, 2022.
For
convenience, the Staff’s comments have been restated below and the Company’s responses are set out immediately under the
restated comments. Unless otherwise indicated, defined terms used herein have the meanings set forth in the Annual Report.
Form
10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2022 Item 1. Business
Industry
Collaborations, page 7
1.
You
disclose that you along with Dupont Water Solutions were awarded a $4.5 million competitive grant from the US Department of Energy’s
Advanced Manufacturing Office and at page 6 that you also received, as a co-grantee, a $2 million grant award from the US Advanced
Battery Consortium in October 2021. Disclosure in your most recent Form 10-Q appears to indicate that you have only received or were
entitled to receive $0.3 million of these amounts as of the quarter ended September 30, 2022. Please address the following points:
●
Clarify
the amounts you have received for each of these grants for the year ended June 30, 2022 and the quarter ended September 30, 2022
and to date,
●
Disclose
where the amounts received, if any, are captured in your statement of cash flows, and
●
For
each of these grants, disclose the total amounts that you are entitled to and any conditions or requirements that must be fulfilled
to receive these amounts.
Response:
On January 20, 2021 the US DOE issued a public release1 that ABTC had been selected for award negotiations for a three-year
project with a total budget of $4,544,244 for the field demonstration of its selective leaching, targeted purification, and electro-chemical
production of battery grade lithium hydroxide from domestic claystone resources technology. The project budget is $4,544,244 over a three-year
period, whereby through this grant award ABTC is eligible to receive reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible expenditures, or up to $2,272,112,
over two Budget Periods. The prime agreement contract for this grant (the “AMO grant”) was issued with a project start date
of October 1, 2021, at which time ABTC was fully funded, without conditions, for the first Budget Period to run from October 1, 2021
through March 31, 2023. In order to gain access to the funding for Budget Period 2, ABTC will undergo a review with the DOE before March
31, 2023 to evaluate the data generated during Budget Period 1 and the resulting projected cost of production for its commercial scale
lithium manufacturing operations, after which the US DOE will make an assessment as to whether or not funds associated with Budget Period
2 will be released. The Company incurs the costs associated with the grant project on an ongoing basis and invoices the US DOE for reimbursement
of 50% of the eligible expenses.
On
August 16, 2021, ABTC received a contract award for a 30-month project with a total budget of $2,000,000 from the US Advanced Battery
Consortium (the “USABC grant”) as part of a competitively bid project, through which ABTC is able to receive reimbursement
for up to $500,000 of eligible expenditures. ABTC was fully funded for this project at the time of award, without conditions. The objective
of the contract award is for the commercial-scale development and demonstration of an integrated lithium-ion battery recycling system,
the production of battery cathode grade metal products, the synthesis of high energy density active cathode material from these recycled
battery metals, and then the fabrication of large format automotive battery cells from these recycled materials and the testing of these
cells against otherwise identical cells made from virgin sourced metals.
The
Company recognizes funds received under these awards as an offset to specific Research and Development programs and accounts for these
awards under ASU No. 2021-10 – Government Assistance. The Company recognizes invoiced government funds as an offset to R&D
costs in the period the qualifying costs are incurred. The Company believes this best reflects the expected net expenditures associated
with these programs and the grant funds received are not separately reported in the statement of cashflows. The amounts that ABTC
has recognized in its financial statements, as an offset to R&D costs, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022 and the fiscal quarter
ended September 30, 2022 are outlined in the table below.
Three months
ended
September 30, 2022
Fiscal Year
ended
June 30, 2022
AMO Grant
$ 263,662
$ 31,894
USABC Grant
$ 59,689
$ 72,413
1https://www.energy.gov/eere/amo/articles/energy-department-selects-15-projects-advance-critical-material-innovations
Further,
the Company has included the disclosure below in its Form 10-Q for the period ended December 31, 2022. This disclosure is included in
Item 2: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations under the heading “Components
of the Statement of Operations”. The Company intends to maintain this disclosure in future filings.
Grant
Funding
On
August 16, 2021, ABTC received a contract award for a 30-month project with a total budget of $2.0 million from the US Advanced Battery
Consortium (the “USABC grant”) as part of a competitively bid project, through which ABTC will receive reimbursement for
up to $500,000 of eligible expenditures. The objective of the contract award is for the commercial-scale development and demonstration
of an integrated lithium-ion battery recycling system, the production of battery cathode grade metal products, the synthesis of high
energy density active cathode material from these recycled battery metals, and then the fabrication of large format automotive battery
cells from these recycled materials and the testing of these cells against otherwise identical cells made from virgin sourced metals.
On
January 20, 2021 the US DOE issued a public release that ABTC had been selected for award negotiation for a three-year project with a
total budget of $4.5 million for the field demonstration of its selective leaching, targeted purification, and electro-chemical production
of battery grade lithium hydroxide from domestic claystone resources technology. Through this grant award ABTC is eligible to receive
reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible expenditures, or up to $2.3 million. The prime agreement contract for this grant (the “AMO
grant”) was issued with a project start date of October 1, 2021
The
Company recognizes approved funds under these awards as an offset to specific R&D programs. As mentioned in the notes to the financial
statement, the Company accounts for these awards under ASU No. 2021-10, “Government Assistance.” The Company recognizes qualified
expenditures and their respective government assistance and nets the funds received against the total cost incurred to arrive at a net
expenditure per period. The Company believes this best reflects the continued investment in R&D along with the assistance of financial
government assistance. The amounts below represent the funds received by the Company from Government entities.
Six months
ended
December 31, 2022
Fiscal Year
ended
June 30, 2022
USABC grant
$ 75,981
$ 72,413
AMO grant
$ 294,427
$ 31,894
2. We
note disclosure in two Form 8-Ks filed on October 21, 2022 and November 17, 2022 that you,
in collaboration with grant partners DuPont Water Solutions, University of Nevada, Reno,
and Argonne National Laboratory, were awarded $57 million towards a project from the U.S.
Department of Energy and a $10 million grant under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Explain
how these grants are related, and for each of these grants, disclose the amounts that ABTC
is entitled to and any conditions or requirements that must be fulfilled to receive these
amounts.
Response:
On October 19, 2022 the US DOE issued a public release2 that ABTC had been selected for award negotiations for a five-year
project with a total budget of $115,489,662 for the construction, commissioning, and operations of a commercial scale lithium hydroxide
refinery. Through this grant award (the “Commercial Lithium Hydroxide Refinery grant”), ABTC would be eligible to receive
reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible expenditures over the duration of the project. At this time, ABTC and the US DOE are still under
contract negotiations and there are no agreements in place or funds accessible.
On
November 16, 2022 the US DOE issued a public release3 that ABTC had been selected for award negotiations for a
three-year project with a total budget of $20,000,000 for the validation, testing, and commercialization of a set of next generation
lithium-ion battery recycling technologies. Through this grant award (the “Next-Generation Recycling grant”), ABTC would
be eligible to receive reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible expenditures over the duration of the project. At this time, ABTC and
the US DOE are still under contract negotiations and there are no agreements in place or funds accessible.
While
both of these grant awards would be funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, they are mutually exclusive and have no relation
to each other.
Please
do not hesitate to contact our counsel Darrin Ocasio at (212) 930-9700 with any questions or comments regarding this correspondence.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
American
Battery Technology Company
By:
/s/
Kimberly Eckert
Kimberly
Eckert
Chief
Financial Officer
cc:
Darrin
Ocasio, Esq., Sichenzia Ross Ference LLP
2
https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-awards-28-billion-supercharge-us-manufacturing-batteries
3https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-74-million-advance-domestic-battery-
recycling