American Resources Corporation AREC recently announced that its subsidiary, Electrified Materials Corporation (“EMCO”), has procured its first battery shredding line, a key milestone in expanding its lithium-ion battery recycling operations. The new equipment will allow the company to process end-of-life, off-warranty and manufacturing scrap batteries, creating battery material feedstocks that can be further refined into critical minerals for reuse in the supply chain.
The shredding line is expected to strengthen EMCO’s role in building a circular supply chain for battery materials in the United States. It complements the company’s existing capabilities in recovering and processing magnet materials, copper, aluminum and ferrous metals from manufacturing scrap and retired products. By adding battery shredding capacity, EMCO is broadening its portfolio of recycled critical materials needed for electrification technologies.
The company plans to focus on recycling lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, a chemistry that is rapidly gaining adoption in electric vehicles, energy storage systems and commercial fleets. Because LFP batteries contain little to no nickel or cobalt, they are more difficult to recycle profitably. American Resources aims to address this challenge through an integrated recycling process focused on efficient lithium recovery.
Through its partnership with ReElement Technologies Corporation, EMCO is combining battery shredding and processing with advanced purification technologies to recover high-purity critical minerals from battery waste. This approach is intended to create a commercially viable recycling solution for LFP and other lithium-ion battery chemistries.
The shredding initiative was funded through private capital raised at the EMCO subsidiary level and supported by a recycling grant from the State of Indiana. EMCO also plans to expand its capabilities to process additional battery chemistries, including NMC, LCO and LMO batteries.
The investment supports American Resources’ broader strategy of building a domestic critical minerals supply chain by increasing battery recycling capacity, strengthening mineral recovery and reducing dependence on imported raw materials.
Shares of AREC have surged 297.1% over the past year compared with the industry’s 59% rise.
AREC’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks
AREC carries a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Some better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Nucor Corporation NUE, L.B. Foster Company FSTR and Albemarle Corporation ALB. NUE, FSTR and ALB carry a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NUE’s current-year earnings stands at $14.84 per share, implying a 92.5% year-over-year increase. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and missed twice, with the average surprise being 8.1%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSTR’s current-year earnings is pegged at $1.74 per share, implying a 152.2% year-over-year increase. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in one of the trailing four quarters and missed thrice, with the average surprise being 3.62%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALB’s current-year earnings is pegged at $12.39 per share, indicating a 1,669.4% year-over-year increase. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, with the average surprise being 74.5%.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).