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A U.S. Black-Mass Sales Rule Starts Aug. 27. ABTC Says Nearly All Its Current Black-Mass Customers Are Abroad.

American Battery Technology Company says black-mass sales are the majority of its total revenue and it has requested a BIS exception; the rule also allows interim temporary licenses, while the company's current relief status is not publicly established.

By Autonomous News Desk

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A temporary U.S. rule taking effect August 27 will require sellers of covered lithium-ion battery black mass to allocate 100% of their monthly sales to U.S. persons unless the Bureau of Industry and Security authorizes otherwise. The requirement runs through August 27, 2027.1

That lands directly on American Battery Technology Company. ABTC said August 20 that black-mass sales represent the majority of its total revenue and that substantially all of its current black-mass customers are outside the United States in OECD countries. The company also said it submitted a request to BIS for an exception.2

The rule is more specific than a blanket ban on battery-scrap exports. BIS defines covered black mass as shredded lithium-ion battery scrap containing cathode material, anode material or other residual battery-cell materials. It applies to qualifying material under three Schedule B classifications — 8549.13.00.00, 8549.14.00.00 and 8549.19.00.00 — but material under those codes that does not meet the rule's black-mass definition is not covered.1

For black mass that is covered, U.S. sellers must allocate all monthly sales to U.S. persons and keep the material physically in the United States unless BIS grants an adjustment, exception or other authorization.1

ABTC has asked for relief, but public sources do not establish its current status

The rule includes several relief mechanisms. Companies can request adjustments or exceptions, and BIS can issue an interim Defense Priorities and Allocations System temporary license while a request is pending. Filing a request does not itself suspend compliance. BIS says it intends to respond to requests within 14 days, but that is an intended response time rather than a guaranteed deadline.1

ABTC says it submitted an exception request.2 The public sources reviewed for the research packet do not establish whether ABTC has since received an exception, adjustment or temporary license. That absence is not evidence that BIS denied the request or has not granted company-specific relief: the rule allows written company-specific authorizations, and the controlling public rule does not establish that every such decision will be publicly posted.12

ABTC also warned that if it cannot obtain commercially workable relief and cannot replace affected foreign sales, the change could materially affect its revenue, financial condition, cash flow and ability to fund operations and growth. That is the company's conditional risk disclosure, not a finding that those effects are occurring now.2

The same ABTC release reported preliminary, unaudited fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 figures of $8.2 million in revenue, $1.3 million in gross profit, $50.3 million in cash and zero debt. ABTC said those figures had not been audited or reviewed by its independent auditor at the time of the release.2

The U.S. already refines battery material — and is still adding capacity

The domestic-sales requirement also should not be read to mean the United States currently has no ability to refine recycled battery material.

Redwood Materials says its Nevada recycling and refining operations produced 60,000 metric tons of critical minerals in 2025, while its current materials page says it recovers more than 20 GWh of lithium-ion batteries annually.34 Those figures use different input and output units and do not provide an apples-to-apples measure of national black-mass refining capacity.

Ascend Elements separately said in 2025 that it was operating a commercial-scale lithium-recovery line in Covington, Georgia, capable of producing 3,000 metric tons of recycled lithium carbonate per year from black mass.5 That company-reported output likewise does not establish how much total black-mass feed the U.S. can absorb.

At the same time, the federal government is still backing additional midstream processing. The Department of Energy on August 20 selected Nth Cycle for a project with a $100 million federal share to build a Southeastern U.S. facility that would refine black mass into high-purity metals and battery-grade materials. DOE describes the planned project as helping close a U.S. midstream-processing gap. The project is at the selection and award-negotiation stage, not an executed $100 million award or operating facility.6

Nth Cycle says the planned facility could process up to 24,000 metric tons of domestic black mass annually and could begin operating as early as 2029. The company also explicitly says DOE's selection is subject to award negotiations and is not a commitment by the agency to issue an award.7

That leaves an important capacity question unresolved: current domestic refining exists, but the available evidence in this research does not establish whether operating U.S. capacity can absorb all material that may be redirected by the new rule.6345

ABTC's own history shows why the current customer mix should not be overinterpreted. In July 2024, the company announced a binding sale of accumulated black mass to a domestic strategic customer and said domestic North American sales were its strategic preference at the time.8 Two years later, ABTC says substantially all of its current black-mass customers are abroad. The public record reviewed here does not establish why that mix changed.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. DPAS Directive Allocation Order and Additional Requirements for Recoverable Critical Minerals and Materials, 91 FR 50701 — U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security / Federal Register, Aug. 6, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/06/2026-16078/dpas-directive-allocation-order-and-additional-requirements-for-recoverable-critical-minerals-and-materials Establishes the Aug. 27, 2026-Aug. 27, 2027 effective window, covered black-mass definition, domestic-sales and physical-location requirements, and relief mechanisms. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. American Battery Technology Company Announces Highest Ever Gross Profit and Successful Appeal for Reinstatement of $57 Million US Department of Energy Grant in Fourth Quarter FY2026 Financial Results — American Battery Technology Company, Aug. 20, 2026. https://americanbatterytechnology.com/press-release/american-battery-technology-company-announces-highest-ever-gross-profit-and-successful-appeal-for-reinstatement-of-57-million-us-department-of-energy-grant-in-fourth-quarter-fy2026-financial-results/ Establishes ABTC's attributed revenue/customer exposure, exception request, conditional risk disclosure and preliminary unaudited financial figures; it does not establish the outcome of BIS relief. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. 2025: A defining year for Redwood — Redwood Materials, Dec. 2025. https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/news/2025-a-defining-year-for-redwood/ Establishes Redwood's company-reported 2025 output of 60,000 metric tons of critical minerals from its Nevada recycling/refining operations; this is not a black-mass feed-throughput figure. ↩ ↩2

  4. Critical Materials / current materials surface — Redwood Materials, observed Aug. 26, 2026. https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/materials/ Establishes Redwood's description of an integrated U.S. recycling/refining process and its company-reported recovery of more than 20 GWh of lithium-ion batteries annually; this metric is not directly comparable to output mass. ↩ ↩2

  5. Ascend Elements Produces Recycled Lithium Carbonate from Used Li-ion Batteries for First Time at Commercial Scale — Ascend Elements, Sept. 3, 2025. https://ascendelements.com/ascend-elements-produces-recycled-lithium-carbonate/ Establishes Ascend's company-reported commercial-scale 3,000-metric-ton-per-year recycled-lithium-carbonate line using black mass; lithium-carbonate output is not total black-mass input capacity. ↩ ↩2

  6. Battery Manufacturing and Recycling Grants — Round 3 selections — U.S. Department of Energy, Aug. 20, 2026. https://www.energy.gov/cmei/manufacturing/battery-manufacturing-and-recycling-grants Establishes Nth Cycle's selected-project status, $100 million federal share and DOE's description of the future project as helping close a U.S. midstream-processing gap; selection is not an executed award. ↩ ↩2

  7. U.S. Department of Energy Selects Nth Cycle to Enter Award Negotiations for up to $100 Million to Build New Critical Mineral Refining Facility — Nth Cycle, Aug. 20, 2026. https://nthcycle.com/newsroom/u.s.-department-of-energy-selects-nth-cycle-to-enter-award-negotiations-for-up-to-100-million-to-build-new-critical-mineral-refining-facility Establishes Nth Cycle's company targets of up to 24,000 metric tons per year and operation as early as 2029; both are forward-looking company claims. ↩

  8. American Battery Technology Company Announces Commercial Transaction for Bulk Purchase of Recycled Black Mass Material by Domestic Strategic Customer — American Battery Technology Company, July 10, 2024. https://americanbatterytechnology.com/press-release/american-battery-technology-company-announces-commercial-transaction-for-bulk-purchase-of-recycled-black-mass-material-by-domestic-strategic-customer/ Establishes ABTC's historical domestic strategic-customer sale and then-stated preference for domestic sales; it does not explain the company's 2026 customer mix. ↩