ION completes $4.4M capital raise

Our recycling tech Investment IonDrive (ASX: ION) has just raised $4.4M to “Advance E-Waste Recycling Opportunities in the USA”.

We participated in the capital raise, adding to our position.

One thing we liked about the raise was that there was basically no discount to the last traded price AND there were no attaching options.

We also liked that ION’s board and management participated for up to $180k.

All good signs whenever a company raises new capital.

Another thing that stood out from today’s announcement was ION’s commentary around how ION’s balance sheet is important for “US government grant applications”:

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A big part of the US push with critical minerals has been centred around investment in processing technologies and recycling…

We think ION’s work in the processing space is all coming at the perfect time too - with the US Department Of Energy recently announcing an additional US$355M in grant funding aimed to “expand domestic production of critical metals”.

(on top of the US$1BN that was set aside a few months ago)

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We think ION has managed to position itself as one of the companies that could be eligible for funding coming out of the US DOE.

(of course there is no guarantee they get anything)

We have written about why we think ION could be in a good position for these grants before here: ION: Critical Minerals Processing and Recycling in US$8.5BN USA-Australia Deal

One of the partnerships we are looking out for newsflow on is the one with Colt Recycling - one of the USA’s largest and most advanced eWaste recycling companies…

ION signed a binding agreement in September with Colt to test ION’s tech on Colt’s feedstock.

In the US alone, Colt processes ~40 million lbs (18 million kilograms) of eWaste every year.

ION signed a binding agreement in September with Colt to test ION’s tech on Colt’s feedstock.

So if ION is able to prove that its tech works on Colt’s feedstock, ION could be in a position where it can plug in to an existing recycling network inside the US…

We wrote about this here: ION: Signs binding agreement for rare earths recycling in the USA.

Then just last week, ION completed the first phase of a two phase techno economic assessment on what a rollout of small modular recycling plants would look like.

ION ran studies on 2,000tpa recycling plants and returned:

• Average annual production: ~115 t of mixed rare-earth oxides
• Post-tax NPV of ~US$7M
• Payback period: 2.6 years

So we have a rough idea of the capital costs and returns on what a rollout looks like too…

What’s next for ION?

Over the next 6 or so months, we think one (or multiple) of the below catalysts could trigger a sustained re-rate in ION’s market cap:

1. US rare earths partnership - ION will be testing its tech on e-waste feedstock to see if it can commercially recover rare earths. IF successful, ION’s tech could be rolled out across recycling facilities processing ~40M lbs of e-waste feedstock annually.
   
   
2. Pilot plant build for battery recycling tech - as mentioned in a prior article we did, we think this will be a big inflection point for ION. ION expects to have the plant built and commercially producing by “early 2026”.
3. EU consortium progress - The consortium has over €3M committed to trying to build battery cells using recycled battery metals from black mass (waste batteries). The consortium is partly funded by an EU grant of ~€2.07M.
4. ION’s mineral processing tech gets de-risked - ION is testing its technology on “US sourced feedstock”. Any big feedstock supply deal, partnership deal or any strong recovery results could be a big unexpected catalyst for ION.
5. Application into new markets - ION is aiming to recover copper, gold, silver, osmium and rare earth elements from e-waste (Printed Circuit Boards).
6. Graphite upgrade results - If ION can produce anode-grade graphite from recycled black mass, it could add to the economics of its pilot plant and strengthen the commercial case for a bigger plant.
7. Testing on EU cobalt deposit - ION has signed a deal with ASX listed Latitude 66 to test its tech on the company’s cobalt project in Finland.
8. Updates on the Livium Binding agreement - ION signed an agreement to test its Deep Eutectic Solvent recycling tech on solar panels, battery black mass, and rare earth magnets, potentially leading to commercial supply and co-location agreements within Australia.
   
9. Solar Panel Recycling - With University of Adelaide, ION is testing its DES recycling tech on end-of-life solar panels to recover high-value silver and silicon.

Here is a nice slide from ION’s latest presentation that summarises everything that is coming:

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