ABAT's $100 million black mass export license reopens overseas sales that an August rule had shut

American Battery Technology Company (Nasdaq: ABAT) said before the market opened on Thursday, October 1, 2026 that the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security had approved the sale of up to $100 million of its recycled black mass through a license to export. The approval comes under the federal controls on critical battery materials that began in August and that otherwise require black mass to be sold to U.S. buyers. The release crossed at 6:00 a.m. ET, and ABAT rose 9.46% in the first minute of pre-market trading, from 2.22 to 2.43, and was 10.81% higher at 2.46 ten minutes later.

The rule that made a license necessary

Black mass is the powder left when spent lithium-ion batteries are shredded, and refiners process it to recover lithium, nickel and cobalt.

1. July 30, 2026: a presidential determination under the Defense Production Act covers recoverable battery minerals, including black mass.
2. August 6, 2026: BIS publishes a temporary final rule under its defense priorities and allocations authority.
3. August 27, 2026: U.S. sellers must allocate all of their monthly black mass sales to U.S. persons unless BIS grants an adjustment or exception.

Because every ton has to go to a domestic buyer, a recycler whose customers are refiners abroad cannot ship to them without BIS approval. ABAT's license is that approval, and it is limited to $100 million of sales under terms the company has not published.

What $100 million means for a $21.7 million business

ABAT's revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026 was $21.7 million, up 407% from $4.3 million a year earlier. The licensed ceiling is about 4.6 times that annual total. The release says the sales will take place "under specified terms" and gives neither the license's duration nor its destinations or buyers, so the filing does not show whether the $100 million is a single total or a yearly limit.

The release also pointed to two expansion projects: scaling up the company's current recycling facility and building a second recycling plant supported by $150 million of competitive Department of Energy grants. Chief executive Ryan Melsert said the company was grateful for the license and for continued government support for the sale of its domestic critical mineral products.

The ABAT reaction, measured

The license drew a far larger reaction than ABAT's annual results: when the fiscal 2026 results crossed at 7:52 a.m. ET on September 14, 2026, the stock stood at 2.45 and was unchanged one minute and ten minutes later. On October 1 the first minute after the license headline traded 14,635 shares and the first fifteen minutes 253,919, all before the regular session. The candlestick chart's last bar, 11 minutes after the headline, closed at 2.46, the same 10.81% above the reference as the ten-minute reading.