Biden Administration Report Follows AMY’s Announcement of Cathode Precursor Production from Recycled Lithium-ion Battery Waste

AMY Currently Working with U.S. DOE and DoD – Members of a Newly-Designated U.S. Government “Battery Recovery and Recycling Task Force”

American Manganese Inc. (TSX-V: AMY) (OTCQB: AMYZF) (FSE: 2AM) is pleased to offer comments on the new White House report on building resilient supply chains, released today in response to U.S. President Joe Biden’s February 2021 Executive Order directing a 100-day battery supply chain review, including the recycling of critical and strategic minerals.

The White House report sees the growing volume of spent lithium-ion batteries as a resource too often lost to landfills or shipped abroad for recoveries. “When the White House says that ‘Domestic economical recycling could reduce exports of valuable resources and increase the quantity available to the U.S. battery supply chain’ we could not agree more,” said Larry Reaugh, President and CEO of American Manganese Inc. “This is the strongest statement to date that indicates momentum is building to bring public policy in line with private-sector innovation to meet the massive new needs for critical minerals.”

The White House report included the following recommendations:

• “To secure cobalt supply and guard against price fluctuations, the United States could consider investing in battery recycling infrastructure and technology development. Immediate focus should include investment to increase capacity and scale-up of recycling facilities, and investigation of pathways for early Federal purchase of recycling waste streams to the furthest extent possible.
• …Executive actions could include grants, loans, and policies to encourage safe domestic recycling. Some examples of potential legislative actions could include tax incentives, a landfill ban, an extended producer responsibility mandate, or a recycling mandate.”

The White House report comes as AMY’s RecycLiCo battery recycling work continues to progress. “The report noted that ‘during cell manufacture, production scrap is a key source of material for recycling,’” Mr. Reaugh noted. “American Manganese has been conducting recycling tests with battery cell manufacturing scrap since we commissioned our pilot plant in 2019 and are pleased to be recognized in the report as a North American recycler (Pg.108). However, to encourage the domestic recycling of battery production scrap – we need North American cathode and battery manufacturing capacity to integrate our recycling technology alongside them, otherwise recycled material would be shipped overseas to manufacture new battery cells.”

The ‘100-Day Battery Supply Chain Review’ follows American Manganese’s recent press release regarding the production of cathode precursor material directly from recycled lithium-ion battery NMC (lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide) cathode waste. As a pioneer in advanced battery recycling, AMY is continuously innovating and enhancing its process because as indicated in the report – ‘In the longer-term, new technologies will expedite cost-effective recycling.’

The White House report also directed that “The United States should establish targeted incentives and strategic stockpiling for recycling and purification infrastructure and form a Battery Recovery and Recycling Task Force consisting of DOE, EPA, DOI, USGS, DOT, Commerce, and DOD.”

“Given the work American Manganese is doing in partnership with the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute and our project funded by the Defense Logistics Agency to demonstrate our ability to use AMY’s patented process to produce EMM from the low-grade manganese resource in DoD’s Wenden, Arizona Stockpile, we believe American Manganese can be a strong private-sector partner in the U.S. Government’s new Battery Recovery and Recycling Task Force,” added Mr. Reaugh.

The full report – “Building Resilient Supply Chains, Revitalizing American Manufacturing, and Fostering Broad-Based Growth” — can be read here.

About American Manganese Inc.

American Manganese Inc. is a critical metals company focused on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries with the RecycLiCo™ patented process. The RecycLiCo™ patented process was developed to offer a closed-loop and environmentally friendly solution for the recycling of cathode materials used in lithium-ion batteries. The recycling process provides high extraction and purity of cathode metals, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and aluminum. The RecycLiCo™ process was designed with the goal to produce recycled battery products that could be seamlessly and directly integrated into the re-manufacturing of battery cathodes using minimal processing steps.