Gelion (AIM: GELN), the Anglo-Australian battery innovator, announces the incorporation of a wholly owned subsidiary, Battery Minerals Ltd (“Battery Minerals”), in the UK, to develop and then commercialise the Lithium-Ion (“Li-Ion”) recycling technology acquired from Johnson Matthey in 2023. Battery Minerals has also been awarded a grant of up to £170,000 by the UK government’s Department of Business and Trade (DBT) and facilitated by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) as part of the Technology Developer Accelerator Programme (TDAP).

The objective of Battery Minerals is to develop a novel recycling process designed to provide lower cost, lower waste, lower eCO₂ and provide the ability to efficiently extract lithium from more battery scrap sources. The growing volume of battery waste presents an environmental challenge, an economic opportunity (projected to be worth $30-40 billion globally by 2030[1]) and a strategic opportunity (self-sufficient minerals supply).

The grant will be used to support a market-focused study and technology development programme to identify the most efficient route to commercialisation of the Battery Recycling IP. TDAP will also provide significant commercial support to Battery Minerals within the UK battery ecosystem through connection with potential customers, investors, and supply chain partners.

Gelion will also allocate funding of c. £100k during the accelerator programme while the intrinsic value of the Battery Minerals entity and business continues to be developed and clarified with the support of the accelerator process to assess value and monetisation strategy.

Gelion CEO John Wood said: “We are delighted to establish Battery Minerals in the UK and are very grateful to the APC for its grant support which provides an ideal approach to advance the commercial and technology planning for our Lithium-Ion recycling technology suite, building a path to an independent investment case and value for our shareholders. The IP suite includes an overarching patent application for the end-to-end process and individual patent applications for each process step. Collectively the 10 patent families offer an efficient and effective method to recover Lithium and other component minerals from scrapped Lithium-Ion cells. This exercise aims to identify the most efficient pathway toward commercial value of the Recycling IP portfolio.”

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[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1103263/li-ion-battery-recycling-market-size/