Critical Materials Bulletin

Ascend Elements Bankruptcy Update: The Poland Assets and the IP Portfolio Have Been Sold.

A new filing dropped this morning on the Ascend Elements bankruptcy.

18 hrs ago • Mith Besler

Breakdown of a FOIA for American Battery Technology Company’s Second Lithium-Ion Recycling Facility: Part Two​

As I posted in this note, thanks to a long-term investor, we have some documents that give us a bit more information about American Battery Technology…

May 20 • Mith Besler

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Energy Storage and Lithium Demand: The Timing Mismatch That Changes the Story

Battery storage and EVs are driving lithium demand in different ways, on different timelines, and that changes how the market should be read.

May 17 • Mith Besler

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A Reply to a ST Poster and an Update on Ascend Elements’ Bankruptcy.

A quick response to why I cover more than one lithium-ion recycling company, and a overview on what the 363 sale proceedings mean for…

May 3 • Mith Besler

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April 2026

The Problems with Comparing Speculative Lithium Extraction Platforms to Legacy Systems

A lot to unpack here.

Apr 29 • Mith Besler

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Tesla’s Lithium Refinery and the Chromium Misdirection

Since it is Saturday, I was sitting there eating my bacon pancakes and I came across an Electrek article about Tesla that reminded me of the quote from…

Apr 26 • Mith Besler

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Is It Really the First Lithium Refining Platform in North America?

Versions of the headline “The first commercial scale electrochemical refining of lithium in North America” have been all over my news feeds this week…

Apr 21 • Mith Besler

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Fisking Canary Media’s Article about Ascend Elements’ Bankruptcy​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

When it comes to renewables and the energy transition, there is no other media outlet that is more comprehensive with their coverage than Canary Media…

Apr 18 • Mith Besler

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Digging Without Diesel

How Critical Mineral Mines Are Electrifying from the Pit to the Refinement

Apr 6 • Mith Besler

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March 2026

Lithium-Ion Recycling and the Export Regulations That Control it

Black mass, borders, and the battle for the battery materials supply chain

Mar 8 • Mith Besler

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Nitpicking a Reuters Article about Canadian Lithium

This is rather misleading.

Mar 5 • Mith Besler

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February 2026

American Battery Technology Company (ABAT) FY2026 Q2 Financials

What matters and what doesn’t, and, as always, the parts people never think to look at that mean everything for a startup lithium-ion recycler who is…

Feb 6 • Mith Besler

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