DRC Export Ban Sparks Nonferrous Metals Rally, Analysts See Limited Lasting Impact

American Battery Technology Company reported its first-ever adjusted gross profit on its fiscal year 2026 earnings call on September 14, even as CEO Ryan Melsert disclosed a federal directive that effectively bans exports of black mass unless the company obtains a specific exception. Revenue at its flagship recycling facility jumped more than 400% year over year to $21.7 million, while cost of goods sold rose only 67% and operating cash spend fell 16%, pushing adjusted gross profit to $1.7 million from a $6.2 million loss a year earlier. Cash climbed to $49.5 million as of June 30, 2026, total assets reached $133 million, and the company erased all long-term debt. A second recycling facility planned for the Southeast U.S., designed to process 100,000 tons of batteries a year, is backed by a $150 million Department of Energy grant, and a separate $10 million DOE grant funds three next-generation recycling technologies; the Bureau of Land Management also certified the plan of operations for the Tonopah lithium project in Nevada, which holds 21.3 million tons of lithium hydroxide including 2.7 million tons of proven and probable reserves. American Battery Technology has submitted a request for the black mass export exception but had received no formal response from the Department of Commerce as of the call, and short interest sits at 16.38% of the float against a forward P/E of 37.74 as of September 16.

Power One Resources Corp. said it has received the exploration permit needed to advance diamond drilling at its 100%-owned Pecors Project, located approximately 14 kilometres east of Elliot Lake, Ontario. The permit allows mechanized diamond drilling from two approved drill pad locations, giving the company flexibility to conduct additional drilling from those sites as geological information and exploration results warrant. Power One's immediate priority is a single vertical diamond drill hole approximately 1,500 metres deep, designed to test the deep-seated Zd1 geophysical anomaly identified through three-dimensional inversion modelling of historical ZTEM resistivity data. The Pecors magnetic anomaly is a large regional magnetic high measuring approximately 12 kilometres long by 4 kilometres wide, most of which is concealed beneath thick sequences of Huronian sedimentary rocks. Historical 2015 drilling intersected gabbroic rocks and returned 0.351 g/t PGE, 1,053 ppm copper and 395 ppm nickel over 12.0 metres beginning at 917.5 metres downhole in hole P-15-22, but subsequent geophysical work identified deeper targets that those holes did not adequately test. CEO and Director Wazir Khan said receiving the drill permit moves Pecors into the next stage of exploration, adding that the immediate objective is to drill approximately 1,500 metres and directly test the Zd1 target at depth.