American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) announced upgraded Measured Resource and Indicated Resource classifications for its Tonopah Flats Lithium Project (TFLP) located in Big Smoky Valley near Tonopah, Nevada. The favorable announcement, published in an S-K 1300 report titled Updated Resource Estimate and Initial Assessment with Project Economics for the Tonopah flats Lithium Project, Esmeralda and Nye Counties, Nevada, USA (Updated Initial Assessment), increases the resource's classification and attractiveness for commercialization. In December 2023, ABTC published its Initial Assessment for the TFLP which included data from its first two drill programs, and provided a preliminary technical and economic study of the performance of the resource.

The company's Updated Initial Assessment incorporates data from its third drill program, which results in an increase in total resource size and an upgraded classification for significant portions of the resource. Overall increase in lithium resource size of 17% from the previous Initial Assessment Approximately 54% of the resource is now classified at an upgraded classification as a Measured Resource or an Indicated Resource, representing an increase in statistical confidence of quantity and quality of resource in progression of development towards commercialization. TFLP continues to be one of the largest known lithium projects in the U.S., with total quantified resource of 21.15 million tons of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) Deposit remains unexplored and open to the South, Southwest, and at depth, allowing for potential to expand the resource with further drilling in both the South and North claim blocks, however with a throughput of 33,000 tons LiOH/yr the current quantified resource already has a mine life of over 400 years.

Even without incorporation of improved data from the third drill program, the TFLP demonstrates attractive after-tax cash flows: Net Present Value of $4.41 billion @10% discount rate Internal Rate of Return of 65.8% 2.4-year payback period of initial investment. Updated Initial Assessment provides necessary data and recommends next steps to further develop the resource, including the completion of a Pre-Feasibility Study. A pre-feasibility study includes a financial analysis based on reasonable assumptions, based on appropriate testing, about the modifying factors and the evaluation of any other relevant factors that are sufficient for a qualified person to determine if all or part of the indicated and measured mineral resources may be converted to mineral reserves at the time of reporting, that extraction is economically viable.

A pre-fe asibility study is less comprehensive and results in a higher confidence level than an initial assessment.