American Battery Technology Group's shares surged sharply in pre-open trading, rising 30.8% after the company announced that the U.S. Department of Energy had reversed course and fully reinstated a $115 million competitive grant. The funding is designated to support construction of the first phase of a commercial-scale lithium refinery at the Tonopah Flats Lithium Project.
The DOE's reversal restores the grant in its entirety - the amount awarded and all contracted technical and commercial milestones remain unchanged. The only adjustment, the company said, was to the contracted project schedule to account for time that passed while the award was under review.
The reinstatement follows an Informal Dispute Resolution process. The DOE concluded that rescinding the earlier termination and allowing the project to continue was warranted, resolving a period of federal funding uncertainty. The grant had been terminated in October 2025 along with many other awards, leaving the Tonopah Flats project without confirmed federal support for about eight months prior to the decision to reinstate funding.
CEO Ryan Melsert commented on the outcome, stating: "We are proud of our long-standing partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, and are grateful that after rigorous due diligence it has concluded that this critical mineral lithium refinery project has achieved all of its contracted technical and commercial milestones to date, and that continued federal support of this project is warranted." The company highlighted that the DOE's finding effectively validated the project's progress against its contractual milestones.
Investors also noted the project-level financial metrics published in the Tonopah Flats Pre-Feasibility Study. That study projects an after-tax net present value at an 8% discount rate of $2.57 billion and an internal rate of return of 21.8% for the project, figures the company presented as evidence of the site's strategic and financial potential.
Market context underscored how idiosyncratic the rally was for the company. Major U.S. indexes moved lower on the same day - the S&P 500 fell 2.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 4.2% - with broader sentiment pressured by geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty. Sector peers did not show a coordinated upward move, an observation consistent with the move being driven by company-specific news rather than an industry-wide tailwind.
Taken together, the reinstatement of the $115 million federal grant, the robust project economics cited in the Pre-Feasibility Study, and the resolution of roughly eight months of funding uncertainty combined to produce one of the largest single-session gains for the company's shares in recent memory, even as the broader market trended downward.
Summary
The DOE has fully reinstated a $115 million grant for American Battery Technology to build Phase 1 of a commercial-scale lithium refinery at Tonopah Flats, restoring funds and milestones while updating schedule timing. The decision followed an Informal Dispute Resolution process, ended about eight months of funding limbo after an October 2025 termination, and coincided with a 30.8% pre-open jump in the company's stock. The project's published Pre-Feasibility Study reports an after-tax NPV@8% of $2.57 billion and an IRR of 21.8%.
Key points
- DOE restored a $115 million competitive grant in full to fund Phase 1 construction of a Tonopah Flats commercial-scale lithium refinery; project milestones and award amount remain unchanged.
- The Tonopah Flats Pre-Feasibility Study projects an after-tax NPV@8% of $2.57 billion and an IRR of 21.8%, figures cited by the company as evidence of the project's economic potential.
- The stock's sharp pre-open gain occurred while major U.S. indexes were down, signaling the move was company-specific; relevant sectors include critical minerals, battery supply chain and industrials tied to project construction.
Risks and uncertainties
- Federal funding for the project had been terminated in October 2025, creating roughly eight months of uncertainty before the reinstatement.
- While the DOE restored the award, the contracted project schedule was adjusted to reflect elapsed time, indicating potential timing risk for construction and delivery milestones.
- Broader market weakness and geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty were cited as weighing on equity markets the same day, representing external factors that could influence investor sentiment toward the company and its sector.