08:40 AM EDT, 09/24/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Electra Battery Materials ( ELBM ) on Tuesday said its battery recycling program successfully produced 99% pure lithium carbonate, a development it said may be a North American first.

The company said it refined the lithium carbonate from the "black mass" of shredded lithium ion batteries sent for recycling and contains metals that make up battery anodes and cathodes.

"Our proprietary hydrometallurgical process has demonstrated repeatedly that it can successfully produce high-quality, saleable products, now including lithium carbonate, along with nickel-cobalt MHP and graphite," Chief Executive Trent Mell said in a release. "This achievement of technical grade lithium carbonate at a plant scale may be the first such achievement in North America."

Electra began recycling batteries at a plant north of Toronto last year, operating by its Aki Battery Recycling joint venture with Three Fires Group. The company said the plant "is believed to have been the first plant-scale hydrometallurgical recycling of black mass material in North America as well as the first domestic production of nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate product".

The company also said it received a notice from the Nasdaq market that it is not in compliance with the exchange's US$1.00 minimum share price. It will appeal the notice at a Nov.5 hearing but can regain compliance if its shares trade above US$1.00 for 10 consecutive business days.

The company's shares were last seen unchanged at US$0.64 in Nasdaq premarket trading. They closed up $0.01 to $0.87 Monday on the TSX Venture Exchange.