Company eliminates long-term debt, strengthens balance sheet, and extends cash runway through asset sales and cost-reduction initiatives
Aqua Metals, Inc., a pioneer in sustainable metals recycling, today announced financial results and operational highlights for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. The Company achieved significant progress toward commercialization, delivering best-in-class product quality, advancing key strategic initiatives, and fortifying its financial position.
Second Quarter and Recent Highlights:
Operational Initiatives
- Produced Industry-Leading Low-Fluorine Lithium Carbonate: Reduced fluorine content in lithium carbonate to less than 30 parts per million (ppm), a likely best-in-class achievement in the global recycling sector, meeting the stringent specifications of cathode active material (CAM) producers. Approximately 100 kilograms of this high-quality material have been produced and are being sampled by strategic counterparties.
- High-Purity NMC Cake Production: Produced over 1 metric ton of nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) mixed hydroxide cake for qualification sampling with potential partners.
- Expanded Alternative Feedstock Testing: Exploring undersea mining nodules as a potential feedstock and the Company successfully tested nickel refinery residue as an additional potential feedstock.
- Initiated Sodium Sulfate Regeneration Trials: Began testing an innovative sodium sulfate regeneration process designed to support precursor cathode active material (pCAM) producers by recycling the sodium sulfate they produce into chemicals they can use in their production process.
- Advanced ARC Facility Design: Started design of a scalable AquaRefining™ Commercial (“ARC”) facility capable of processing 10,000 to 60,000 metric tons per year of black mass.
- Demonstrated Cost Competitiveness: An internal study showed that AquaRefining™ in the U.S. is cost competitive with Chinese hydrometallurgical recycling and operates at approximately half the cost of traditional U.S. hydrometallurgical methods.
Financial Initiatives
- Generated Cash from Non-Core Asset Sales: Completed the $4.3 million sale of the Sierra ARC facility and sold $200,000 in non-core equipment.
- Strengthened Balance Sheet: Eliminated all long-term debt.
- Improved Liquidity: Cash and cash equivalents increased from $1.6 million at the start of the quarter to over $1.9 million at quarter-end.
- Extended Cash Runway: Gains driven by the building sale, implementation of the $10 million equity line of credit (ELOC), and reduced cash burn following the sale.
Milestone Announcements
- Showcased Technology to Industry Leaders: Hosted over 100 stakeholders for live demonstrations at the Company’s Innovation Center and Demonstration Plant during NAATBatt’s annual meeting. Read more »
- Strengthened Intellectual Property: Received allowance for a foundational U.S. patent protecting the Company’s lithium-ion battery recycling process, adding to our IP portfolio. Read more »
- Enhanced Leadership Team: Completed CFO transition with the appointment of Eric West, formerly VP Finance. Read more »
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