Q4 2025 Aqua Metals Inc Earnings Call

March 31, 2026

<unk> conference call.

At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation.

If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference. Please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded I would now like to turn the conference over to your host Dan Scott.

Thank you you may begin.

Thank you operator, and thank you everyone for joining us today earlier today Aqua metals issued a press release, providing an operational update and discussing results for the full year ended December 31 2025.

This release is available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at Aqua metals Dot com hosting the call today are Steve Cotton, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Eric West Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin I would like to remind participants that during this call management will be making forward looking statements. Please refer to the company's report on Form 10-K filed today for a summary of the forward looking statements and the risks uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward looking <unk>.

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Aqua metals cautions investors not to place undue reliance on any forward looking statements. The company does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur except as required by law as a reminder, after the formal remarks.

We will conduct a question and answer session.

With that I'd like to turn the call over to Steve Cotton, President and CEO of Aqua metals.

Thank you Dan and good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate you joining us for Aqua metals fourth quarter and full 2025 earnings call.

I'll walk through what was an active and milestone filled year for our company covering how we evolved our technology, what we accomplished on the product side, how our strategic partnerships developed and the financial Foundation, we built heading into 2026, Eric will then follow with a detailed financial review let me.

Before we begin, I would like to remind participants that during this call, management will be making forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's report on Form 10-K filed today for a summary of the forward-looking statements, and the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements.

Start with the overall frame for 2025, it was a year in which discipline and execution went hand in hand, we made deliberate adjustments to our commercialization approach as market conditions evolve cleared important technical hurdles extended our platform with new strategic initiatives and put the balance sheet and meaningfully better shape.

Aqua Metals cautions investors not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur, except as required by law. As a reminder, after the formal remarks, we will conduct the question and answer session. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Steve Cotton, President and CEO of Aqua Metals.

And where we started the year.

On the technology and product front I would call 2025, the most expansive year and Aqua metals history in terms of what the operating funding process demonstrated that it can do.

Thank you, Dan, and good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate you joining us for Aqua Metals' fourth quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call.

We grew the product portfolio, we raised the bar with product specs improved the feedstock flexibility of our platform in ways that battered commercially and allow us to address the variability of material not only in the battery recycling market.

<unk> to include other markets like rare Earths and undersea mining for example.

One of the most important strategic decisions. We made this year was to sharpen the commercial scope of our first arc facility with.

With the operator, finding platform is capable of producing a broader range of outlets. We made the deliberate decision to simplify the first commercial plant around two core feedstock streams, and then see black bass and LSP black mass and those inputs. Our initial commercial focus will be on three.

Today, I'll walk through what was an active and milestone film year for our company, covering how we evolved our technology, what we accomplished on the product side, how our partnerships developed, and the mental foundation we built heading into 126. Eric will then follow with the detailed financial review. Please start with the overall frame for 2025. It was a year in which discipline and execution went hand in hand. We delivered adjustments to our commercialization approach as market conditions evolved, cleared important technical hurdles, extended our platform with new strategic issues, and put the balance sheet in meaningfully better shape than where we started the year. On the technology and product front, I would call 2025 the most expanded year in Aqua Metals' history in terms of what we offer and refined processes to demonstrate what they can do.

Primary output.

<unk> grade lithium carbonate nickel cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate or an HP and iron phosphate. We have already successfully produced materials at our innovation Center, which gives us confidence that this is the right first commercial configuration.

We grew the product portfolio. We raised the bar with FX improved. The feedstock flexibility of our platform in ways that have commercially and allow us to address the variability of materials—not only in the battery recycling market, but beyond to include other markets, like rare earths and undersea mining, for example.

That decision is expected to reduce execution risk shorten time to market lower upfront capital requirements and support attractive unit economics, and a stronger payback profile.

In short we are intentionally designing the first commercial arm to be simpler faster and more capital efficient to deploy while preserving the flexibility to expand the product slate over time as we scale.

We believe that it is the right disciplined approach.

The most important strategic decision we made this year was to share the commercial scope of our first art facility with the operating platform. It's capable of producing a broad range of about. We need to deliver a decision to simplify the first commercial plan around two weeks, stock streams, and then see black mass and LFP black mass. From those inputs, our initial commercial focus will be on three.

To commercialization and long term shareholder value creation.

Quality our team delivered results that we believe set a new benchmark for the recycling industry.

Our lithium carbonate achieved horine levels under 30 parts per million of specification and to our knowledge places us at or above the quality standard for any recycled lithium source globally.

Output battery grade carbonate, nickel Cobalt mix hydroxide precipitate or HB and iron phosphate. We've already successfully produced these materials at our Innovation Center, which is confidence that this is the right first commercial configuration.

Material meeting this threshold has been produced at meaningful scale and distributed to strategic Counterparties for evaluation the responses have been substantive and encouraging.

On the broader product side, we generated product qualification representative volumes of multiple products and advance those materials through partner qualification processes. We also developed nickel carbonate reducing initial samples calibrated to specific downstream partner requirements, which opens additional product pathways.

That is expected to reduce execution risk, shorten time to market, lower upfront capital requirements, and support attractive unit economics and a stronger payback profile. In short, we are intentionally designed in the first commercial Arc to be simpler, faster, and more capital efficient to deploy while preserving the flexibility to expand products over time as we scale. We believe that it is the right, disciplined approach to commercialization and long-term, accretive value creation.

It gives us greater optionality as partner discussions mature now.

On product quality, our team delivered results that we believe set a new benchmark for the recycling industry.

Now on LSP or lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry, which is cobalt and nickel free I want to give this attention it deserves because I consider proving that we can economically recycle. This type of material is one of the most significant technical achievements in this company's history.

We moved from engineering analysis, and bench scale work on lithium iron phosphate recycling all the way through to processing, an entire metric ton of LP capital scrap at our pilot facility.

Covering battery grade lithium carbonate that was validated by OEM and third party testing that is not a lab result that is demonstration at commercially meaningful scale and because LSP chemistry is capturing an increasing share of both EV and stationary storage deployments the ability to handle it gives our platform a decisive competitive.

Advantage in terms of addressable feedstock.

We also initiated trials on sodium sulphate regeneration a process that can allow PJM producers to converted problematic waste stream back into a usable chemical inputs, creating cost and sustainability advantages for our partners.

The most significant technical achievements in this company's history.

We extended our alternative feedstock testing to include nickel refinery residue alongside poly metallic nodule materials rare earths bearing magnets and E waste, which underscores the core flexibility built into our electrochemical process. One achievement from 2025 stands out beyond the product and process milestones.

We moved from engineering analysis and bench-scale work on lithium iron phosphate recycling all the way through to processing an entire metric ton of LFP capital scrap at our pilot facility, recovering battery-grade lithium carbonate that was validated by OEM and third-party testing.

We were central to producing the first cathode active material made entirely from recycled nickel sourced within the United States that material has now entered qualification at a tier one battery manufacturer.

That is not a lab result—that is demonstration at a commercially meaningful scale, and because LFP chemistry is capturing an increasing share of both EV and stationary storage deployments, the ability to handle it gives our platform a decisive competitive advantage in terms of addressable feedstock.

Batteries, not just as a technical accomplishment for Aqua metals, but as a demonstration that our fully domestic closed loop battery materials supply chain is not a theoretical goal.

Is it something that can actually be built.

As the field of players in this market continues to consolidate we intend to be at the center of it.

On the commercial development side, we advanced our arc facility designed to support a processing range of 10200 60000 metric tons of black mass input feedstock annually that flexibility is intentional it allows us to size. The first commercial facility to the specific partner configuration and capital structure, we ultimately bring.

We also initiated trials, on sodium sulfate, regeneration a process that could allow pecam producers to convert a problematic. Waste stream back into a usable. Chemical inputs, creating cost and sustainability advantages for our partners and we extended our alternative feed stock testing to include, nickel Refinery, residue alongside poly, metallic nodule materials, rare, Earths bearing, magnets, and E-Waste, which underscores the core flexibility built in to our electrochemical process.

What achievement from 2025 stands out beyond the product and process milestones?

Together, rather than being locked into a single predetermined scale.

We also conducted structured due diligence on several candidates sites and the first commercial arc working through factors length feedstock proximity offtake accessibility utility infrastructure permitting pathways and the strategic alignment of potential partners at each location. The process has been thorough and we.

We were central to producing the first cathode active material made entirely from recycled nickel sourced within the United States. That material has now entered qualification at a tier 1 battery manufacturer. This matters, not just as a technical accomplishment for Aqua Metals, but as a demonstration that a fully domestic, closed loop battery materials supply chain is not a theoretical goal.

Are in a good position to move forward with final site selection later this year as the remaining commercial conditions come together and I want to be direct about the build decision because I think our approach is sometimes misread hesitation.

It is something that can actually be built as the field of players in this market continues to consolidate. We intend to be at the center of it.

In fact this is exactly the opposite we are.

Not going to build before we are ready and ready means is compacted feedstock committed offtake and project financing that is genuinely bankable posture is simple bill once build right and execute from a position of confidence that approach protects shareholders and gives us the best possible path to a facility the brands to profitability.

On the commercial development side, we Advanced our Arc. Facility design to support. A processing range of 10,000 to 60,000 metric. Tons of black mass input feed stock annually. That flexibility is intentional. It allows us to size the cursed commercial facility to the specific partner configuration and capital structure. We ultimately bring together rather than being locked into a single predetermined scale.

On a reasonable timeline.

We also remain actively engaged in diligence with line energy around a transaction structure that we believe could be highly strategic and meaningfully additive to Aqua metals is completed this opportunity with not only provide immediate commercial revenue and extend our reach downstream into branded energy storage systems across portable.

We also conducted structured due diligence on several candidates sites for the first commercial Ark. Working through factors. Like feed stock, proximity offtake accessibility utility infrastructure permitting Pathways and the Strategic alignment of potential Partners at each location. The process has been thorough and we are in a good position to move forward with final site selection later this year as the remaining commercial conditions,

Come together. And I want to be direct about the build decision because I think our approach is sometimes misread and hesitation

Residential commercial data center and industrial applications, but it would also position aqua metals and its shareholders to participate more directly in two of the fastest growing segments of the electrification economy distributed energy storage and domestic LSP battery manufacturing of cells.

In fact, this is exactly the opposite. We are not going to build before we are ready. And what ready means is contracted feed stock committed offtake in Project financing. That is genuinely bankable. Our posture is simple, build once billed, write and execute from a position of confidence

Importantly through Lions existing relationship with an equity stake in American battery factory or ABF. This transaction would also bring with it a meaningful equity interest in ABF, creating exposure to the emerging U S. Giga factory build out and LSP cell production market.

That approach protects shareholders and gives us the best possible path to a facility that brings us to profitability on a reasonable timeline.

We view this as a compelling strategic fit that can broaden our platform advance our long term circularity vision enhance our commercial relevance and create additional pathways for shareholder value creation, we remain disciplined and thoughtful in our process and we look forward to updating the market in the near term.

Let me now turn to our partnership activity in 2025, which was broad and meaningful I'll walk through the key relationships because of the pattern. They reveal is important with 6K energy we formalized a multiyear supply agreement establishes the commercial terms under which we would deliver battery grade nickel level in lithium carbonate.

We also remain actively engaged in diligence with Lion energy, around a transaction structure that we believe could be highly strategic and meaningful additive to Aqua Metals. If completed this opportunity would not only provide immediate commercial revenue and extend our reach Downstream into branded energy storage systems across portable residential, commercial Data Center and Industrial applications. But it would also position Aqua metals and its shareholders to participate more directly in 2 of the fastest, growing segments of the electrification economy. Distributed energy storage in domestic lfp, battery manufacturing of cells.

Into their domestic cathode active material manufacturing operations. This moves the relationship beyond technical collaboration and into a defined commercial framework positioning Aqua metals as a named supplier into a domestic cam production chain with Westwood elements.

Importantly, through Lion's existing relationship, with an equity stake in American Battery Factory, or ABF. This transaction would also bring with it a meaningful equity interest in ABF, creating exposure to the emerging US gigafactory buildout and LFP cell production market.

We entered a nonbinding LOI outlining terms for a potential supply of recycled gold carbonate that we can.

Support West Wynn efforts to build domestic nickel supply chain.

We've used this as a compelling, strategic fit that can broaden our platform. Advance, our long-term circularity Vision, enhance, our commercial relevance and create additional Pathways for shareholder value creation. We remain disciplined and thoughtful in our process. And we look forward to updating the market in the near term.

This relationship, particularly interesting as the downstream implications, we believe that a west wind Aqua metals commercial partnership and relationship can help stand up nickel production and refining capability on U S soil that simply does not exist at scale today.

Operator: Greetings, and welcome to Aqua Metals' Q4 2025 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Dan Scott. Thank you. You may begin.

We also signed two Mou they extend the Aqua refining platform into adjacent critical minerals territory.

First with impossible metals explore is applying our refining process to material collected responsibly from the seafloor feedstocks to contain nickel cobalt copper manganese and rare earth elements, the second with Moody robotics evaluates.

Dan Scott: Thank you, operator, and thank you everyone for joining us today. Earlier today, Aqua Metals issued a press release providing an operational update and discussing results for the full year ended December 31, 2025. This release is available in the investor relations section of the company's website at aquametals.com. Hosting the call today are Steve Cotton, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Eric West, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind participants that during this call, management will be making forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's report on Form 10-K filed today for a summary of the forward-looking statements and the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. Aqua Metals cautions investors not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.

Whether offer refining can be applied to poly metallic nodules with the potential to recover true rare earth elements as well.

Level in lithium carbonate into their domestic cathode, active material manufacturing operations. This moves, the relationship Beyond technical collaboration and into a defined commercial framework, positioning Aqua Metals as a name supplier into a domestic cam production chain with Westwind elements. We entered a non-binding Loi outlining terms for a potential supply of recycled nickel carbonate that would support West. Winds efforts to build a domestic nickel supply chain.

<unk> extend our platform well beyond battery recycling and into strategic areas of focus on critical minerals in today's world.

I want to address the strategic logic here directly these are not departures from our mission the chemistry underlying op refining electrochemical refining of dissolves critical mineral streams is the same whether the feedstock originates from black mask refinery residue E waste or deep sea nodules.

What makes this relationship particularly interesting is the downstream implication. We believe that a West Wind Aqua Metals, commercial partnership in relationship can help, stand up, nickel production, and refining capability on us soil. That simply does not exist at scale today.

The intellectual property travels.

These agreements do is extend our total addressable market and create optionality that our licensing and partnership oriented business model can monetize without heavy incremental capital.

We also signed two, the extend the operator finding platform into adjacent critical minerals territory. The first with Impossible Metals explores applying our refining process to material collected responsibly from the seafloor, feedstocks that contain nickel, cobalt, copper, magnesium, and rare earth elements.

The second with Moby, robotics evaluates,

Dan Scott: The company does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur, except as required by law. As a reminder, after the formal remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Steve Cotton, President and CEO of Aqua Metals.

Hattery recycling remains our primary commercial path these adjacencies add strategic depth.

Weather offer refining can be applied to poly. Metallic nodules with a potential to recover. True Rare Earth elements as well.

We also continue to active industry engagement at our Tahoe Reno based innovation center and demonstration plan throughout the year hosting the National Battery conference automotive Oems and battery manufacturers recyclers and upstream materials suppliers for facility tours and technical reviews.

Both extend our platform well beyond battery recycling and into strategic areas of focus on critical minerals in today's world.

Steve Cotton: Thank you, Dan, and good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate you joining us for Aqua Metals' Q4 and Full 2025 Earnings Call. Today, I'll walk through what was an active and milestone-filled year for our company, covering how we evolved our technology, what we accomplished on the product side, how our strategic partnerships developed, and the financial foundation we built heading into 2026. Eric will then follow with a detailed financial review. Let me start with the overall frame for 2025. It was a year in which discipline and execution went hand in hand. We made deliberate adjustments to our commercialization approach as market conditions evolved, cleared important technical hurdles, extended our platform with new strategic initiatives, and put the balance sheet in meaningfully better shape than where we started the year.

The consistency of the feedback about the quality of our output and the operational sophistication of our pilot plant continues to build credibility and commercial discussions and you can see some of that feedback on our blog the current on our web site.

I want to address the strategic logic here directly. These are not departures from our mission. The chemistry underlying Opera refining, electrochemical refining of dissolved critical mineral streams, is the same—whether the feedstock originates from Black Mass refiner residue, e-waste, or deep-sea nodules.

The intellectual property travels.

On the governance front, we made targeted physicians to the board of directors, bringing in directors with specific expertise is in growth strategy commercialization and financial markets.

These additions reflect where we are in our development company into this transitioning from technology validation to commercial execution and the board now reflects that stage appropriately. We also completed a CFO transition with Eric West stepping into the role of bringing both deep Aqua metals institutional knowledge and a fresh financial perspective too.

What these agreements do is extend our total addressable market and create optionality that a licensing and partnership-oriented business model can monetize. Without heavy incremental capital, battery recycling remains our primary commercial path. These adjacencies add strategic depth.

We also continue to actively engage with the industry at our Tahoe, Reno-based Innovation Center and demonstration plant throughout the year, hosting the National Battery Conference. Automotive OEMs, battery manufacturers, recyclers, and upstream materials suppliers attend for facility tours and technical reviews.

This next phase.

On the intellectual property in the U S patent office granted allowance of a foundational patent covering key elements of our lithium battery recycling process. This is a significant addition to an already substantial IP estate and reinforces the long term defensibility in the op refining platform at commercial scale. We also.

Steve Cotton: On the technology and product front, I would call 2025 the most expansive year in Aqua Metals' history in terms of what the AquaRefining process demonstrated that it can do. We grew the product portfolio. We raised the bar with product specs, improved the feedstock flexibility of our platform in ways that matter commercially, and allow us to address the variability of material not only in the battery recycling market, but beyond, to include other markets like rare earths and undersea mining, for example. One of the most important strategic decisions we made this year was to sharpen the commercial scope of our first ARC facility. With the AquaRefining platform, it's capable of producing a broader range of outputs. We made the deliberate decision to simplify the first commercial plant around two core feedstock streams, NMC black mass and LFP black mass.

The consistency of the feedback about the quality of our output and the operational sophistication of our pilot plant continues to build credibility in commercial discussions, and you can see some of that feedback on our blog. The current feedback is on our website.

File a provisional application covering a novel low cost leasing approach applicable to mind, manganese ores and deep sea nodule feedstocks, which is further evidence of the expanding reach of our IP program.

As we enter 2026, our priorities are well defined we are advancing engineering and permitting work to support site selection for our first commercial arc, we are deepening commercial negotiations with supply offtake and project financing partners and we are moving strategic partner qualifications for our lithium carbonate in an HP forward.

On the governance front, we made targeted decisions to the board of directors, bringing in directors with specific expertise in growth strategy, commercialization, and financial markets. These additions reflect where we are in our development as a company—that is, transitioning from technology validation to commercial execution—and the board now reflects that stage appropriately. We also completed a CFO transition, with Eric West stepping into the role and bringing both deep Aqua Metals institutional knowledge and a fresh financial perspective to this next phase.

Deliberate milestone oriented way the broader environment for domestic critical minerals is continuing to shift in our direction the policy and geopolitical case for building the <unk>.

Steve Cotton: From those inputs, our initial commercial focus will be on three primary outputs, battery-grade lithium carbonate, nickel cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate, or MHP, and iron phosphate. We have already successfully produced these materials at our innovation center, which gives us confidence that this is the right first commercial configuration. That decision is expected to reduce execution risk, shorten time to market, lower upfront capital requirements, and support attractive unit economics and a stronger payback profile. In short, we are intentionally designing the first commercial ARC to be simpler, faster, and more capital efficient to deploy while preserving the flexibility to expand the product slate over time as we scale. We believe that it is the right and disciplined approach to commercialization and long-term shareholder value creation. On product quality, our team delivered results that we believe set a new benchmark for the recycling industry.

<unk> battery material production capability has never been stronger and we are increasingly recognized as a technically validated credibly finance player in that space. We have the process. The people the operating demonstration plant and the strategic relationships to move from validation to commercialization.

On intellectual property, the US Patent Office granted allowance of a foundational patent covering key elements of our lithium battery recycling process. This is a significant addition to an already substantial IP estate and reinforces the long-term defensibility of the operating refining platform at commercial scale.

We also filed a provisional application covering a novel low-cost leaching approach applicable to mind magazines ores in deep sea. Nodule feed stocks which is further evidence of the expanding reach of our IP program.

Now it is about refining that momentum in the commercial results and I am confident in our team's ability to deliver.

With that I will turn it over to Eric for the financial review Eric over to you.

Thanks, Steve for.

I'll provide a review of our full year 2025 financial results and balance sheet position.

As we enter 2026, our priorities are well-defined. We are advancing engineering and permitting work to support site selection for our first commercial Ark. We are deepening commercial negotiations with supply offtake and project financing partners, and we are moving strategic partner qualifications for our lithium carbonate and MHP forward in a deliberate, milestone-oriented way.

Given this is our fourth quarter and full year call I will focus primarily on annual figures, while noting fourth quarter specifics relevant.

Let me start with the balance sheet, we ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of approximately $2 8 million a significant capital raise activity in 2025 is the most important context for understanding our year end position.

Steve Cotton: Our lithium carbonate achieved fluorine levels under 30 parts per million, a specification that, to our knowledge, places us at or above the quality standard for any recycled lithium source globally. Material meeting this threshold has been produced at meaningful scale and distributed to strategic counterparties for evaluation. The responses have been substantive and encouraging. On the broader product side, we generated product qualification representative volumes of multiple products and advanced those materials through partner qualification processes. We also developed nickel carbonate, producing initial samples calibrated to specific downstream partner requirements, which opens additional product pathways and gives us greater optionality as partner discussions mature.

The broader environment for domestic critical minerals has continued to shift in our direction. The policy and geopolitical case for building domestic battery material production capability has never been stronger, and we are increasingly recognized as a technically validated, credibly financed player in that space.

October we closed a $30 million investment from a leading institutional investors combined with approximately $7 million raised through our ATM and equity line program.

We have the process, the people, the operating demonstration plan, and the strategic relationships to move from validation to commercialization.

Total new capital raised in 2025 was approximately $20 million.

Now, it is about refining that momentum into commercial results and I am confident in our team's ability to deliver

This was a proactive raise made from a position of strength and strategic momentum and it provides us with multiple quarters of operating runway and the resources needed to advance engineering permitting and site selection work for our first commercial scale Aqua refining facility.

Over to you.

Thanks, Steve. For now, provide an overview of our four-year, 2025 financial results and balance sheet position.

I also want to highlight a key balance sheet improvement that I am, particularly proud of we ended the year with no long term debt.

Given this is our fourth quarter and four-year call, I will focus primarily on annual figures while noting fourth quarter specifics where relevant.

This was the result of a deliberate financial management decisions be it around 2025, including the completion of <unk> arc.

Steve Cotton: Now on LFP or lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry, which is cobalt and nickel-free, I want to give this attention it deserves because I consider proving that we can economically recycle this type of material as one of the most significant technical achievements in this company's history. We moved from engineering analysis and bench scale work on lithium iron phosphate recycling all the way through to processing 1 metric ton of LFP cathode scrap at our pilot facility, recovering battery-grade lithium carbonate that was validated by OEM and third-party testing. That is not a lab result. That is demonstration at commercially meaningful scale. Because LFP chemistry is capturing an increasing share of both EV and stationary storage deployments, the ability to handle it gives our platform a decisive competitive advantage in terms of addressable feedstock.

Let me start with the balance sheet. We ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of approximately 10.8 million. The significant Capital, raise activity in 2025, is the most important context for understanding our year-end position.

Asset sales in the second quarter.

So CAE to retirement of the $3 million summit building loan I.

I mean fully eliminated our debt we entered 2026 with a cleaner more flexible capital structure and we have had in years.

In October, we closed a 13 million investment, from the leading Institutional, Investor combined with approximately 7 million raised through our ATM and equity line programs.

Our total new capital raised in 2025 was approximately $20 million.

Now moving to the income statement I will cover the full year 2025 results with prior year comparisons were described.

Total operating expense for the full year 2025 was approximately $23 3 million compared to approximately $23 8 million for the full year 2024.

This was a proactive raise made from a position of strength and strategic momentum, and it provides us with multiple quarters of operating runway and the resources needed to advance engineering, permitting, and site selection work for our first commercial-scale AquaRefining facility.

Total expenses were relatively consistent year over year 2025 included approximately $9 1 million of impairment and lump on disposal charges compared to approximately $3 1 million in 2024, these impairment charges, our non routine and noncash in nature.

I also want to highlight a key balance sheet improvement that I'm particularly proud of: we ended the year with no long-term debt.

Steve Cotton: We also initiated trials on sodium sulfate regeneration, a process that can allow PCAM producers to convert a problematic waste stream back into a usable chemical input, creating cost and sustainability advantages for our partners. We extended our alternative feedstock testing to include nickel refinery residue alongside polymetallic nodule materials, rare earth-bearing magnets, and e-waste, which underscores the core flexibility built into our electrochemical process. One achievement from 2025 stands out beyond the product and process milestone. We were central to producing the first cathode active material made entirely from recycled nickel sourced within the United States. That material has now entered qualification at a tier one battery manufacturer. This matters not just as a technical accomplishment for Aqua Metals, but as a demonstration that a fully domestic closed-loop battery material supply chain is not a theoretical goal. It is something that can actually be built.

This is the result of a deliberate financial management decisions made throughout 2025, including the completion of the Sierra Arc as a sale in the second quarter and the associated retirement of the million dollars Summit Building loan.

Excluding these items underlying operating expenses declined meaningful year over year, reflecting the sustained cost discipline will be maintained throughout 2025 <unk>.

Having fully eliminated our debt, we endured 2026 with a cleaner, more flexible capital structure than we have had in years.

Including the benefit of workforce reductions implemented in the prior periods, while continuing to support our key technical and commercial development programs.

Now, moving to the income statement, I will cover the full year 2025 results with prior year comparisons where it is described.

We are running a lean mission focused operation.

General and administrative expenses for the full year were approximately $10 $5 million down from approximately $12 million.

In the prior year.

The decline was driven primarily by lower payroll and related cost following prior year workforce reductions.

Professional fees and broader overhead efficiencies for the fourth quarter, specifically G&A came in at approximately $3 8 million.

Global operating expense for the full year 2025 was approximately $23.3 million, compared to approximately $23.8 million for the full year 2024. While total expenses were relatively consistent year-over-year, 2025 included approximately $9.1 million of impairment and loss on the disposal of charges, compared to approximately $3.1 million in 2024. These impairment charges are non-routine and non-cash in nature.

Steve Cotton: As the field of players in this market continues to consolidate, we intend to be at the center of it. On the commercial development side, we advanced our ARC facility design to support a processing range of 10,000 to 60,000 metric tons of black mass input feedstock annually. That flexibility is intentional. It allows us to size the first commercial facility to the specific partner configuration and capital structure we ultimately bring together, rather than being locked into a single predetermined scale. We also conducted structured due diligence on several candidate sites for the first commercial ARC, working through factors like feedstock proximity, offtake accessibility, utility infrastructure, permitting pathways, and the strategic alignment of potential partners at each location. The process has been thorough and we are in a good position to move forward with final site selection later this year as the remaining commercial conditions come together.

Research and development expense for the full year totaled approximately $1 3 million, reflecting our continued investment in process optimization and product expansion, including lithium carbonate quality improvement image production nickel carbon in development and LNP processing capability for.

Excluding these items, our line operating expenses declined meaningfully year-over-year, reflecting the sustained cost discipline we have maintained throughout 2025.

Including the benefit of Workforce reductions implemented in the prior periods while continuing to support our key Technical and Commercial development programs.

We are running the lean, mission-focused operation.

For the fourth quarter R&D was approximately $4 million, while we maintained disciplined cost control. We are intentional about funding the technical work that de risks commercialization and advances partner qualification every dollar spent in this area is a clear commercial purpose.

General and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter were approximately $10.5 million, down from approximately $12 million.

On a full year in 2025 net loss was approximately $22 6 million or a negative $15 15 per basic and diluted share compared to a net loss of approximately $24 6 million or negative $38 20 per share what your 2024.

In the prior year, the decline was driven primarily by lower payroll and related costs following prior year workforce reductions, reduced professional fees, and broader overhead efficiencies.

For the fourth quarter, specifically, G&A came in at approximately $3.8 million.

Steve Cotton: I want to be direct about the build decision because I think our approach is sometimes misread as hesitation. In fact, this is exactly the opposite. We are not going to build before we are ready. What ready means is contracted feedstock, committed offtake, and project financing that is genuinely bankable. Our posture is simple. Build once, build right, and execute from a position of confidence. That approach protects shareholders and gives us the best possible path to a facility that ramps to profitability on a reasonable timeline. We also remain actively engaged in diligence with Lion Energy around a transaction structure that we believe could be highly strategic and meaningfully additive to Aqua Metals.

For the fourth quarter, our net loss was approximately $4 4 million or negative $2 97 per share.

Research and development expense for the year totaled approximately $1.3 million. Our continued investment in process optimization and product expansion includes lithium carbonate quality improvement, MHP production, nickel carbonate development, and LSP processing capability.

These figures reflect a pre revenue development stage of our business and then continuing to trend in the right direction as our cost structure matures.

Once take a moment on the year over year net loss comparison, because the 2025 figures also reflect some noncash items that are worth noting for investors evaluating our underlying operating structures.

For the fourth quarter, R&D was approximately $0.4 million. While we maintain disciplined cost controls, we are intentional about funding the technical work that de-risks commercialization and advances partner qualifications. Every dollar spent in this area has a clear commercial purpose.

Our 2025 results include noncash items associated with warrant liability remeasurement impairment on disposal of property plant and equipment and other non cash adjustments similar to prior periods.

Steve Cotton: If completed, this opportunity would not only provide immediate commercial revenue and extend our reach downstream into branded energy storage systems across portable, residential, commercial, data center, and industrial applications, but it would also position Aqua Metals and its shareholders to participate more directly in two of the fastest-growing segments of the electrification economy, distributed energy storage and domestic LFP battery manufacturing of cells. Importantly, through Lion's existing relationship with an equity stake in American Battery Factory, or ABF, this transaction would also bring with it a meaningful equity interest in ABF, creating exposure to the emerging US Gigafactory build-out and LFP cell production market. We view this as a compelling strategic fit that could broaden our platform, advance our long-term circularity vision, enhance our commercial relevance, and create additional pathways for shareholder value creation.

We are pleased that the core operating cash consumption continued to trend lower year over year.

Employer 2025 net loss was approximately $22.6 million, or -$5.15 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of approximately $24.6 million, or -$38.26 per share, for the year 2024.

Which is a direct reflection of the cost discipline, we have discussed on every call. This year.

For the fourth quarter, our net loss is approximately $4.4 million, or $0.0297 per share.

Moving to the cash flow statement net cash used in operating activities for the full year 2025 was approximately $10 3 million.

These figures reflect the pre-revenue stage of our business, and they continue to trend in the right direction as our cost structure matures.

Compared to approximately $13 6 million in 2024.

Improvement a reduction of more than 24, 8% year over year reflects our disciplined overhead management and the lower cost structure, we have built over the past 18 months.

I want to take a moment on the year-over-year net loss comparison because the 2025 figures also reflect some non-cash items that are worth noting for investors. Evaluating our underlying operating trajectory,

Investing activities for the year, primarily reflect the <unk> building and equipment sale proceeds received in Q2 are fully offset by minor fixed asset activity.

Our 2025 results include non-cash items associated with warrant liability, remeasurement, impairment on disposal of property, plant and equipment, and other non-cash adjustments, similar to prior periods.

In the summer of 2025, we also provided approximately $2 $1 million of short term financing to line energy, which remained outstanding at year end as the note receivable.

Trend, lower year-over-year.

Subsequent to year end in February 2026, we entered into a non binding term sheet contemplating the potential acquisition of wind energy and contributed the outstanding note along with an additional $2 million to acquire a subordinated position interest in its senior secured credit facility in connection with our evaluation of the potential turn.

This is a direct reflection of the cost discipline we have discussed on every call this year.

Steve Cotton: We remain disciplined and thoughtful in our process, and we look forward to updating the market in the near term. Let me now turn to our partnership activity in 2025, which was broad and meaningful. I'll walk through the key relationships because the pattern they reveal is important. With 6K Energy, we formalized a multi-year supply agreement that establishes the commercial terms under which we would deliver battery-grade nickel metal and lithium carbonate into their domestic cathode active material manufacturing operations. This moves the relationship beyond technical collaboration and into a defined commercial framework, positioning Aqua Metals as a named supplier into a domestic CAM production chain. With Westwin Elements, we entered a non-binding LOI outlining terms for a potential supply of recycled nickel carbonate that would support Westwin's efforts to build a domestic nickel supply chain. What makes this relationship particularly interesting is the downstream implication.

Action.

On the financing side the year was characterized by meaningful capital inflows from our October institutional raised an ongoing ATM and equity line activities, partially offset by debt repayment activity completed earlier in the year.

Moving to the cash flow statement, net cash used in operating activities for the full year 2025 was approximately $10.3 million, compared to approximately $13.6 million in 2024. This improvement, or reduction, of more than 24.8% year-over-year reflects our disciplined overhead management and the lower cost structure we have built over the past 18 months.

Investing activities for the year primarily reflect the CRR building and equipment sale proceeds received in Q3, and were fully offset by minor fixed asset activity.

Looking ahead as Steve outlined we anticipate a measured increase in cash usage as we ramp engineering process optimization and site readiness activities in support of our first commercial facility.

In December of 2025. We also provided approximately 2.1 million of short-term financing to Line energy, which remained outstanding at the year. End at the note receivable,

We will continue to manage our spending with rigorous discipline every dollar invested months.

Vance, a clear strategic and technical milestones.

This remains on maintaining adequate liquidity aligning investment pace with commercialization progress, ensuring we have the financial platform to reach our goals.

Steve Cotton: We believe that a Westwin/Aqua Metals commercial partnership and relationship can help stand up nickel production and refining capability on US soil that simply does not exist at scale today. We also signed two MOUs that extend the AquaRefining platform into adjacent critical minerals territory. The first, with Impossible Metals, explores applying our refining process to material collected responsibly from the sea floor, feedstocks that contain nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and rare earth elements. The second, with MOBY Robotics, evaluates whether AquaRefining can be applied to polymetallic nodules with the potential to recover true rare earth elements as well. Both extend our platform well beyond battery recycling and into strategic areas of focus on critical minerals in today's world. I want to address the strategic logic here directly. These are not departures from our mission.

Let's look into your end in February 2026. We entered into a non-binding term sheet, contemplating the potential acquisition of Line Energy, and contributed the outstanding note along with an additional $2 million to acquire a subordinated position interest in its senior secured credit facility in connection with our evaluation of the potential transaction.

The balance sheet improvements, we achieved in 2025, eliminating debt raising $20 million in new capital and continue to reduce our operating cash burn and positioning Aqua metals to approach 2026 from a place of genuine financial stability, we have the runway, we need and we intend to use it wisely.

On the financing side, the year was characterized by meaningful capital inflows from our October institutional raise and ongoing ATM and equity line activities, partially offset by debt repayment activity completed earlier in the year.

That concludes my prepared remarks, I will now turn the call back to the operator for the question and answer session.

Looking ahead, it's Steve. We anticipate a measured increase in cash usage as we ramp Engineering Process optimization and site Readiness activities in support of our first commercial facility.

Thank you at this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session.

You'd like to ask a question. Please press star one on your telephone keypad.

We will continue to manage our spending with rigorous discipline every dollar invested must Advance. A clear, strategic and Technical milestone.

A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You May press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the Q1.

Focus remains on maintaining adequate liquidity, aligning investment pace with commercialization progress, and ensuring we have the financial platform to reach our goals.

One moment, please while we poll up for questions.

Okay.

My first question comes from Mickey <unk> with the benchmark Company. Your line is now live.

Steve Cotton: The chemistry underlying AquaRefining, electrochemical refining of dissolved critical mineral streams, is the same whether the feedstock originates from black mass, refinery residue, e-waste, or deep sea nodules. The intellectual property travels. What these agreements do is extend our total addressable market and create optionality that a licensing and partnership-oriented business model can monetize without heavy incremental capital. Battery recycling remains our primary commercial path. These adjacencies add strategic depth. We also continued active industry engagement at our Tahoe/Reno-based innovation center and demonstration plant throughout the year, hosting the National Battery Conference, automotive OEMs, battery manufacturers, recyclers, and upstream materials suppliers for facility tours and technical reviews. The consistency of the feedback about the quality of our output and the operational sophistication of our pilot plant continues to build credibility in commercial discussions, and you can see some of that feedback on our blog, The Current, on our website.

Hey, guys congrats on another quarter, thanks for taking my questions.

Just a couple here on the line energy acquisition.

The balance sheet improvements we achieved in 2025, eliminating debt, raising 20 million in New Capital and continue to reduce our operating cash burn as positioned Aqua metals to approach 2026 from a place of genuine, Financial stability. We have the runway we need and we intend to use it wisely.

I'm, assuming that it does get approved and closes.

That concludes my prepared remarks. I will now turn the call back to the operator for the question-and-answer session.

What are your main areas of focus near term as some of the most natural areas of synergy you see for Aqua metals.

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad.

Yes.

Good question and yes, so first off we're really.

A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue.

And very deep in due diligence across all the key work streams associated with this acquisition.

1 moment, please while we pull up for questions.

Type inclusive of financial legal operational and commercial.

Our first question comes from Mickey leg with the Benchmark company, your line is now live.

And Thats included everything from auditing the financials to completing a detailed independent market product assessment across Lions' revenue generating portable.

Residential costs.

Commercial industrial and data center offerings.

Steve Cotton: On the governance front, we made targeted additions to the board of directors, bringing in directors with specific expertise in growth strategy, commercialization, and financial markets. These additions reflect where we are in our development, a company that is transitioning from technology validation to commercial execution, and the board now reflects that stage appropriately. We also completed a CFO transition, with Eric West stepping into the role and bringing both deep Aqua Metals institutional knowledge and a fresh financial perspective to this next phase. On intellectual property, the US Patent Office granted allowance of a foundational patent covering key elements of our lithium battery recycling process. This is a significant addition to an already substantial IP estate and reinforces the long-term defensibility of the AquaRefining platform at commercial scale.

So we've had the <unk>.

Team is spending a lot of time talking about synergies with each other in each other's facilities and working closely through all the discussions.

So on the process has been very active very substantive.

Hey guys, congrats on another quarter. Thanks for taking my questions. Um just a couple here on the line energy acquisition um assuming that it does get approved and closes just what what are your main areas of focus near-term and some of the most natural areas of synergy you see for aqua Metals, thanks.

Expect to bring it to a conclusion in the near term and update the market Accordingly, and then a greater sense, what we see with the synergies is.

An integrated battery materials and battery energy storage company is much stronger than those that stand on their own and thats because of the synergies that you can get with the circularity with the ingredients that go into the batteries. The production of the battery is inclusive of the ownership that line energy has <unk>.

Yeah, hey Vicki. Uh, good question. And, um, yeah, so first off, we've really, um, been very deep in due diligence across all the key work streams associated with the acquisition. You know, that's inclusive of financial, legal, operational, and commercial. Uh, and that's included everything from auditing the financials to completing a detailed, dependent market product assessment across Lion's revenue-generating portable, um, residential.

Eric and battery factory, what Theyre planning Giga factory in Tucson, Arizona, and being able to put that all together and expose the shareholder frankly to the option ality of having a stock they can buy that that is.

Uh, uh, commercial, industrial, and data center offerings.

Steve Cotton: We also filed a provisional application covering a novel low-cost leaching approach applicable to mined manganese ores and deep sea nodules feedstocks, which is further evidence of the expanding reach of our IP program. As we enter 2026, our priorities are well-defined. We are advancing engineering and permitting work to support site selection for our first commercial ARC. We are deepening commercial negotiations with supply, offtake, and project financing partners. We are moving strategic partner qualifications for our lithium carbonate and MHP forward in a deliberate, milestone-oriented way. The broader environment for domestic critical minerals has continued to shift in our direction. The policy and geopolitical case for building domestic battery material production capability has never been stronger, and we are increasingly recognized as a technically validated, credibly financed player in that space.

<unk> is really a combination of energy storage battery materials and Giga factory production.

It's much how it is done in China, and one reason that China has been successful is by integrating these solutions and creating those kinds of synergies to reduce costs increase efficiency and have a better story about the the overall solutions. So we're really excited about that opportunity.

Work everything out with <unk> energy in.

Come out swinging as what we think will be the.

The first integrated energy solution provider in battery materials provider in North America.

Great. Okay. Okay. That's very helpful. And then just just one more on the acquisition and I wanted to understand a little bit better.

Steve Cotton: We have the process, the people, the operating demonstration plant, and the strategic relationships to move from validation to commercialization. Now it is about refining that momentum into commercial results, and I am confident in our team's ability to deliver. With that, I will turn it over to Eric for the financial review. Eric, over to you.

The equity say it could bring in American battery factory, how does that fit in there.

Just sort of aligned with your closing remarks, there youre ending remarks about.

Heading into the domestic end to end battery ecosystem. Thanks.

Yes, so definitely the equity stake in American battery factory is.

Eric West: Thanks, Steve. I will now provide an overview of our full year 2025 financial results and balance sheet position. Given this is our Q4 and full year call, I will focus primarily on annual figures while noting Q4 specifics where relevant. Let me start with the balance sheet. We ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of approximately $10.8 million. The significant capital raise activity in 2025 is the most important context for understanding our year-end position. In October, we closed a $13 million investment from a leading institutional investor, combined with approximately $7 million raised through our ATM and equity line programs. Our total new capital raised in 2025 was approximately $20 million.

And being able to put that all together and expose the shareholder, frankly, to the optionality of having, um, a stock, they can buy that that, um, is, is really a combination of energy, storage battery, materials, and gigafactory production. Um, it's much how it's done in China, and 1 reason that China has been successful is by integrating these Solutions. Uh, and creating those kinds of synergies to reduce costs increase efficiency and have a better story about the the overall solution. So we're really excited about that opportunity, um to uh, work everything out um, with client energy and and um,

A huge value creator and a huge synergistic opportunity, but America battery factories planning a.

First Giga factory in Tucson, Arizona, they've already secured the land about 270 acres.

Come Out Swinging is what we think will be the uh um the first integrated Energy Solution provider and Battery materials provider in North America.

We see synergistic opportunities as one of the sites, we're considering to deploy.

Our park facility at a commercial grade plus line of energy, having some battery fabrication. So if you can think of like a single location that would have sales being generated the agreement that we already have with American battery factory in an Mou form today, which is.

Great. Okay. Okay, that's very helpful. And then, just just 1 more on the acquisition, and I want to understand a little bit better. The, um,

That we would take the scrap from that Giga factory as an input to our recycling facility and get lithium carbonate right back to that Giga factory.

The equity sake, it could bring in American Battery Factory. How, how does that fit in there? Uh, does it just sort of aligned with your closing remarks? There your ending remarks about uh fitting into the domestic end to end battery ecosystem. Thanks.

Eric West: This was a proactive raise made from a position of strength and strategic momentum, and it provides us with multiple quarters of operating runway and the resources needed to advance engineering, permitting, and site selection work for our first commercial scale AquaRefining facility. I also want to highlight a key balance sheet improvement that I'm particularly proud of. We ended the year with no long-term debt. This is the result of a deliberate financial management decisions made throughout 2025, including the completion of the Sierra ARC asset sale in Q2 and the associated retirement of the $3 million Summit building loan. Having fully eliminated our debt, we entered 2026 with a cleaner, more flexible capital structure than we have had in years. Now moving to the income statement, I will cover the full year 2025 results with prior year comparisons where described.

While right in that same area, you've got mining energy, putting together really innovative battery energy storage products for the various segments of the marketplace I was talking about earlier.

So the Giga factory plays or large plays and.

What American battery factory seeking as to.

The final phase of financing.

That Giga factory started this year later this year and those are hundreds of millions of dollars of.

Investments.

Based on project Finance, we think our equity position would still be still quite meaningful post financing and.

Our Giga factory produces a heck of a lot of revenue and a heck of a lot of product that also adds to those synergies. So we really see.

That is a key aspect of our relationship with <unk> energy.

And American battery factories kind of tying that all together.

Okay. Okay. That's very helpful. That's all for me today and congrats again according to guys.

Eric West: Total operating expense for the full year 2025 was approximately $23.3 million compared to approximately $23.8 million for the full year 2024. While total expenses were relatively consistent year over year, 2025 included approximately $9.1 million of impairment and loss on disposal charges, compared to approximately $3.1 million in 2024. These impairment charges are non-routine and non-cash in nature. Excluding these items, underlying operating expenses declined meaningfully year over year, reflecting the sustained cost discipline we have maintained throughout 2025, including the benefit of workforce reductions implemented in the prior periods while continuing to support our key technical and commercial development programs. We are running a lean, mission-focused operation.

Yeah. So, um, definitely the equity stake in American Battery Factory is, uh, a huge value Creator and a huge synergistic opportunity. But America, battery factories planning a, uh, a first gigafactory in Tucson Arizona. They've already secured the land about 270 Acres. Um, where we see synergistic opportunities, um, as 1 of the sites, we're considering to deploy um our Arc, um, facility at a commercial grade plus Line energy, having some battery fabrication. So if you can think of like a single location that would have, uh, cells being generated. Um, the agreement that we already have with American Battery Factory um, in an mou form today, which is um that we would take the scrap from that gigafactory is an input to our recycling facility and get lithium carbonate right back to that gigafactory um while right in that same area you've got Line energy putting together, um really Innovative uh battery energy storage products for uh, the various segments of the marketplace. I was talking about,

Thanks appreciate it Mickey.

Thank you I would now like to turn the call back to Dan to facilitate questions that were submitted online.

Alright. Thank you very much first question for Steve could you give us.

Site selection update where does the process stand and when can we expect an announcement.

Sure sure. So the biggest gating factors now are really site selection project structure lining up the right capital in commercial partners and as we've already mentioned.

Earlier, uh, so the gigafactory plays are large plays and um, uh, what American Battery Factory is seeking is, is the final phase of financing. Um, to get that gigafactory started, uh, this year later this year and, um, those are, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars of uh, uh investment. Um, based on Project Finance, we think our Equity position would still be, um, still quite meaningful, host financing. And, uh, uh, a gigafactory produces a heck of a

We're in active due diligence on two specific potential site.

A lot of revenue and a heck of a lot of product that also, um, adds to those synergies. So we really see, um, that as a key aspect of our relationship with Lion Energy, um, and American Battery Factories kind of tying that all together,

I'm looking at things like feedstock access logistics utilities.

Okay, okay, that's very helpful. That's all for me today, and uh, congrats again on the quarter, guys.

Permitting.

And of course, the overall economics of the project in that particular type of location and our goal is to settle on and secure the lead site and then spend the balance of the year, making real progress on site specific F. E. L. Two engineering and Thats really basically the stage, where you move from concept.

Appreciate it. Mickey

Eric West: General and administrative expenses for the full year were approximately $10.5 million, down from approximately $12 million in the prior year. The decline was driven primarily by lower payroll and related costs following prior year workforce reductions, reduced professional fees, and broader overhead efficiencies. For Q4, specifically, G&A came in at approximately $3.8 million. Research and development expense for the full year totaled approximately $1.3 million, reflecting our continued investment in process optimization and product expansion, including lithium carbonate quality improvement, MHP production, nickel carbonate development, and LFP processing capability. For Q4, R&D was approximately $0.4 million. While we maintain disciplined cost control, we are intentional about funding the technical work that de-risks commercialization and advances partner qualification. Every dollar spent in this area has a clear commercial purpose.

Thank you. I've been now like to turn the call back to Dan to facilitate questions that were submitted on online.

All right, thank you very much. Uh, first question for Steve—could you give us a site selection update? Where does the process stand, and when can we expect an announcement?

To a much more defined and specific plant designed down to every nut and bolt for that particular location.

Cost estimate and the execution plan to begin executing upon.

Excellent second question, Steve is what is the status of the feedstock market theres been a lot of volatility in battery metal prices, how does that affect your commercial position.

Yeah, Great question. So today effectively all of the Black mass produced in the United States and really North America has been exported offshore.

Because there really aren't yet commercial scale refining options here domestically and thats exactly the opportunity we're pursuing with the first build of our commercial arc.

Sure, sure. So the, the biggest gating factors now are uh, really sight selection project structure lining up the right capital and Commercial partners. And as we've already mentioned, um, we're inactive due diligence on 2 specific potential sites. Um, looking at things like feed stock, access Logistics, utilities permitting, and of course, the overall like economics of the of the project in that particular type of location and our goal is to settle on and secure the lead site and then spend the balance of the year making real progress on site specific Fel 2 engineering. And that's really basically the stage where you move from

The market does demand competitive payables for feedstock, but.

Eric West: Our full year 2025 net loss was approximately $22.6 million, or -$15.15 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of approximately $24.6 million or -$38.20 per share for full year 2024. For Q4, our net loss was approximately $4.4 million or -$2.97 per share. These figures reflect the pre-revenue development stage of our business, and they continue to trend in the right direction as our cost structure matures. I want to take a moment on the year-over-year net loss comparison because the 2025 figures also reflect some non-cash items that are worth noting for investors evaluating our underlying operating trajectory.

But we believe our lithium acre refining process puts us in a very strong position because of its potential capex and opex advantages.

Concept, uh, into a much more defined and specific uh, plant design down to every nut and bolt for that particular location, uh, cost estimate and, um, the execution plan to begin executing a bond.

And importantly, we are already working to diversify.

Through both end of life batteries, and Giga factory scrap as I mentioned earlier.

That includes our announced Mou like I mentioned earlier with American battery factory in Tucson. So we can take end of life and beginning of life batteries that didn't make it.

Excellent. Uh, the second question Steve is, uh, what is the status of the feed stock market? There's been a lot of volatility and Battery metal prices. How does that affect your commercial position?

And thats about half of the scrap.

Of the overall material is Giga factory scrap at this point in time.

It's also important to note that the overall economics around refining black massively improved meaningfully over the last year.

A number of projects across the industry, which including ours slowed or paused with lithium carbonate prices fell to around $8000 a ton in 2024.

Eric West: Our 2025 results include non-cash items associated with warrant liability remeasurement, impairment on disposal of property, plant, and equipment, and other non-cash adjustments similar to prior periods. We are pleased that the core operating cash consumptions continue to trend lower year-over-year, which is a direct reflection of the cost discipline we have discussed on every call this year. Moving to the cash flow statement, net cash used in operating activities for the full year 2025 was approximately $10.3 million compared to approximately $13.6 million in 2024. This improvement, a reduction of more than 24.8% year-over-year, reflects our disciplined overhead management and the lower cost structure we have built over the past 18 months. Investing activities for the year primarily reflect the CRR building and equipment sale proceeds received in Q2, partially offset by minor fixed asset activity.

With pricing now having recovered to roughly the 20000 plus or minus range per ton, we think that creates a much healthier backdrop and thats in turn a real opportunity for the remaining U S players and especially for Aqua metals, given the stage that we're at today.

In the United States. Um, and really North America is being exported offshore, uh, simply because there really aren't yet. Commercial scale refining options here domestically, and that's exactly the opportunity we're pursuing with the first build of our commercial Arc. Um, the the market does demand competitive payables for feed stock, but we believe our lithium Opera refining process puts us in a very strong position because of its potential capex and Opex advantages and importantly, we're already working to diversify.

Thanks, Steve the next when we got one is could you talk about the OSP breakthrough in more detail what is a significant and what does it mean for your business model.

Through both end of life, batteries and gigafactory scrap as I mentioned earlier. Um, and that includes our announced mou like I mentioned earlier with American Battery Factory in Tucson, so we can take end of life and beginning of Life batteries, that didn't make it. Um, uh, and that's about half of the scrap. Um, the of the of the all overall material is gigafactory scrap at this point in time.

Yes, great.

As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, the LSP breakthrough is really about our ability to economically recover lithium while also recovering the iron phosphate into a reusable form and that's really a big deal LSP does not have nickel or cobalt to support the economics. So you really have to run.

Eric West: In December 2025, we also provided approximately $2.1 million of short-term financing to Lion Energy, which remained outstanding at the year-end as a note receivable. Subsequent to year-end, in February 2026, we entered into a non-binding term sheet contemplating the potential acquisition of Lion Energy and contributed the outstanding note, along with an additional $2 million to acquire a subordinated position interest in its senior secured credit facility in connection with our evaluation of the potential transaction. On the financing side, the year was characterized by meaningful capital inflows from our October institutional raise and ongoing ATM and equity line activities, partially offset by debt repayment activity completed earlier in the year. Looking ahead, as Steve outlined, we anticipate a measured increase in cash usage as we ramp engineering, process optimization, and site readiness activities in support of our first commercial facility.

An efficient process and thats exactly where our lithium aqua refining technology stands out that.

That matters not just for future end of life batteries, but for the growing volume of LSP Giga factories scrap such as American battery factory are already being Jenna.

Um it's also important to note that the overall economics around refining black mass of uh improved meaningful over the last year. Um a number of projects across the industry which including ours slowed or paused with lithium carbonate. Prices fell to around. 8,000 a ton in 2024 um with pricing now having recovered to roughly the 20,000 plus, or minus range per ton, we think that creates a much healthier backdrop, and that's in turn, a real opportunity for the remaining us players.

And especially for aqua Metals given the stage that we're at today.

Generated today.

And what we expect from American battery factory as they come online.

<unk> continues to scale across energy storage in Evs, we really think that puts us in a strong position to be a leader in the new LLP batteries.

Thanks Steve. Uh, the next 1 we got was, is, could you talk about the lfp Breakthrough in more detail? Why is it significant? And what does it mean for your business model?

Alright. Thanks, Eric next one is for you can you expand on your liquidity position coming out of 2025, and how long is the current capital and how long your current capital supports your operations.

Yes, definitely happy to expand on that.

<unk>.

Pointing to you we ended the year with $10 $8 million of cash.

No long term debt and a lower operating burn.

This has put us in a pretty strong position as a compared to prior periods.

Eric West: We will continue to manage our spending with rigorous discipline. Every dollar invested must advance a clear strategic and technical milestone. The focus remains on maintaining adequate liquidity, aligning investment pace with commercialization progress, ensuring we have the financial platform to reach our goals. The balance sheet improvements we achieved in 2025, eliminating debt, raising $20 million in new capital, and continuing to reduce our operating cash burn, has positioned Aqua Metals to approach 2026 from a place of genuine financial stability. We have the runway we need, and we intend to use it wisely. That concludes my prepared remarks. I will now turn the call back to the operator for the question and answer session.

We continue to.

Exercise cost discipline.

As you know as we continue to progress.

And just to add some additional context.

The capital raise during 2025 was about $20 million in total, which really helped us to strengthen the balance sheet and put us in a position to fund all of the work that we're doing now.

Yeah, great. Uh as I mentioned, in my prepared remarks, um the lfp Breakthrough is really about our ability to economically recover lithium, while also recovering the iron, phosphate into a reusable form, and that's really a big deal. Lfp does not have nickel or Cobalt to support the economics. So you really have to run an process and that's exactly where our lithium occur refining technology stands out. Um, that matters Not Just for future end of life batteries, but for the growing volume of lfp gigafactory. Scrap such as American Battery Factory already being um, generated today. Um, and what we expect from American Battery Factory, is they come online. Um, as lfp continues to scale across energy storage and EVS. We really think that puts us in a strong position to be a leader in, in the new lfp batteries.

So really that gives us the solid flexibility as we continue to move forward on the overall engineering and site selection and our partnerships that we've discussed.

All right, thanks Eric next 1's for you. Can you expand on your liquidity position coming out of 2025? And how long is the current capital and how long your current capital supports your operations?

Yeah, definitely happy to expand on that. Um, you know,

That really lead us to our first commercial facility.

So overall, we feel good about where we are the focus now is just continuing to be disciplined and making sure that we deploy the capital against the right milestones.

Operator: Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from Mickey Legg with The Benchmark Company. Your line is now live.

Alright, a couple more Steve you've announced the Mou is with impossible metals and multi robotics for deep sea mineral applications and also an LOI with Westwood elements.

These partnerships fit with Aqua metals core business, what do they look like commercially.

Yes, so at a high level all of these partnerships are about applying our four operating finding platform to new sources of critical minerals.

point to you, we ended the year with 10.8 million of cash. Um, no long-term debt and a lower operating burn. Um, you know, this is put us in a pretty strong position as a compared to Prior periods. Um, we continue to um, exercise, cost discipline. Um, as you know, as we continue to progress and just to add some additional context, you know, the capital raised during 2025, was about 20 million dollars in total which uh really helped us to strengthen the balance sheet and uh, put us in a position to fund all of the work that we're doing now.

Mickey Legg: Hey, guys. Congrats on another quarter. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a couple here on the Lion Energy acquisition. Assuming that it does get approved and closes, just what are your main areas of focus near term, and some of the most natural areas of synergy you see for Aqua Metals? Thanks.

And importantly, opening up to a very large high Tam market set access to that where we can really monetize that capability. So we view them as directionally aligned and not a distraction at all whether it's black mass or giga factories scrap or primary resources like deep Sea nodule.

So really that gives us the uh, you know, solid flexibility, as we continue to move forward on the overall engineering site selection and our Partnerships that we've discussed.

That really led us to our first commercial facility.

So overall, we feel good about where we are. The focus now is just continuing to be disciplined and making sure that we deploy the capital against the right milestones.

<unk> or refining intermediates from partners like West when the common thread is our ability to process. These complex materials efficiently and with a lower environmental footprint and have access to the Tam of those gigantic markets. In addition to battery recycling and our sites.

Steve Cotton: Yeah. Hey, Mickey. Good question. Yeah, so first off, we've really been very deep in due diligence across all the key work streams associated with this acquisition. You know, that's like inclusive of financial, legal, operational, and commercial. That's included everything from auditing the financials to completing a detailed independent market product assessment across Lion's revenue-generating portable, residential, commercial, industrial, and data center offerings. We've had the team's spending a lot of time talking about synergies with each other in each other's facilities and working closely through all the discussions. On the process, it's been very active, very substantive, and we expect to bring it to a conclusion in the near-term and update the market accordingly.

All right, a couple more Steve, uh, you've announced Mo use with impossible medals and Moby robotics for deep sea, mineral applications, and also an Loi with Westwind elements out of these Partnerships fit with aqua Metals Core Business. And what do they look like, commercially?

Okay.

The last question, we have is Steve how do you view the ongoing consolidation in the battery recycling industry doesn't create opportunity or risk for Aqua metals.

So we view the consolidation overall as a net positive for Aqua metals. The reality is that the.

Lithium price collapse that happened in 2024 exposed which models were resilient and which were not and at the same time. The industry is learning that simply copying China's chemical intensive hydro approach into North America is really a very tough economic proposition.

Steve Cotton: In a greater sense, what we see with the synergies is an integrated battery materials and battery energy storage company is much stronger than those that stand on their own. That's because of the synergies you can get with the circularity with the ingredients that go into the batteries, the production of the batteries, inclusive of the ownership that Lion Energy has in American Battery Factory, with their planned gigafactory in Tucson, Arizona.

That's why we built off refining differently from the beginning and.

Or refining intermediates from partners. Like West Wind, the common thread is our ability to process these complex materials efficiently and with a lower environmental footprint, and have access to the TAM of those gigantic markets. In addition to battery recycling in our sites,

And that is inclusive again as a reminder of vastly lower chemical intensity in costs lower waste, because we don't produce sodium sulfate waste streams, whereas the incumbent China hydro process produces more sodium sulfate waste stream than product, we produced zero sodium sulfate waste stream and don't have all the costs associated with it and as.

Okay. Um, the last question we have is, uh, Steve, how do you view the ongoing consolidation in the battery recycling industry, and does it create opportunity or risk for aqua metals?

Steve Cotton: Being able to put that all together and expose the shareholder, frankly, to the optionality of having a stock they can buy that is really a combination of energy storage, battery materials, and gigafactory production. It's much how it's done in China, and the one reason that China has been successful is by integrating these solutions and creating those kinds of synergies to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and have a better story about the overall solution. We're really excited about that opportunity to work everything out with Lion Energy and come out swinging is what we think will be the first integrated energy solution provider and battery materials provider in North America.

The process that we believe is much better suited to north American permitting and operating realities with safe jobs.

A much more.

Clean type of an operation without the cost and those waste streams. So is the weaker models fall away, we think that our position does become increasingly and interestingly more differentiated and stronger.

So we view the consolidation overall as a net positive for aqua Metals. Um, the reality is uh that the lithium price collapse that happened in 2024 exposed, Which models were resilient and which were not. And at the same time, the industry is learning that simply copying China's chemical intensive. Hydro approach into North America is really a very tough economic proposition.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you there are no further questions at this time I'd.

I'd like to pass the call back over to Steve for any closing remarks.

Alright, well, thank you everybody for listening in and for those of you with it or reading the transcript in the future. We look forward to continued communicating our updates in the near future as we continue to develop Aqua metals and the rest of 2026, we're really excited to keep everybody in the Luke Thanks again.

Mickey Legg: Great. Okay. Okay, that's very helpful. Then just one more on the acquisition, and I wanna understand a little bit better the equity stake it could bring in American Battery Factory. How does that fit in there? Does it just sort of align with your closing remarks there, your ending remarks about fitting into the domestic end-to-end battery ecosystem? Thanks.

That's why we built Opera refining differently from the beginning. Uh, and that is inclusive again as a reminder of uh, vastly lower chemical intensity and costs lower waist, because we don't produce sodium sulfate, waste streams. Um whereas the incumbent China Hydro process produces more sodium sulfate waste stream than product, we produce zero sodium sulfate, waste stream, and don't have all the costs associated with it. And it's a process that we believe is much better suited to North American permitting and operating realities with safe jobs and

This concludes today's conference you may disconnect your lines at this time and we thank you for your participation.

And um, uh, a much more, um, uh, clean type of an operation without the cost and those waste streams. So, is the weaker models Fall Away. We think that our position does become increasingly an interestingly, more differentiated and stronger.

Steve Cotton: Yeah. Definitely the equity stake in American Battery Factory is a huge value creator and a huge synergistic opportunity. American Battery Factory is planning a first gigafactory in Tucson, Arizona. They've already secured the land, about 270 acres, where we see synergistic opportunities, as one of the sites we're considering to deploy our ARC facility at a commercial grade, plus Lion Energy having some battery fabrication. If you can think of, like, a single location that would have cells being generated, the agreement that we already have with American Battery Factory in an MOU form today, which is that we would take the scrap from that gigafactory as an input to our recycling facility and get lithium carbonate right back to that gigafactory.

Okay, thank you. There are no further questions at this time.

I'd like to pass the call back over to Steve for any closing remarks.

All right. Well, thank you, everybody, for listening in. And for those of you that are reading the transcript in the future, we look forward to continuing to communicate our updates in the near future, as we continue to develop Aqua Metals and the rest of 2026. We're really excited to keep everybody in the loop. Thanks again.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

Steve Cotton: While right in that same area, you've got Lion Energy putting together really innovative battery energy storage products for the various segments of the marketplace I was talking about earlier. The gigafactory plays are large plays, and what American Battery Factory is seeking is the final phase of financing to get that gigafactory started this year, later this year. Those are, you know, $ hundreds of millions of investment based on project finance. We think our equity position would still be quite meaningful post-financing. A gigafactory produces a heck of a lot of revenue and a heck of a lot of product that also adds to those synergies.

Steve Cotton: We really see that as a key aspect of our relationship with Lion Energy and American Battery Factory, just kinda tying that all together.

Mickey Legg: Okay. That's very helpful. That's all for me today. Congrats again on the quarter, guys.

Steve Cotton: Thanks. Appreciate it, Mickey.

Operator: Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back to Dan to facilitate questions that were submitted online.

Dan Scott: All right, thank you very much. First question for Steve. Could you give us a site selection update? Where does the process stand, and when can we expect an announcement?

Steve Cotton: Sure, sure. The biggest gating factors now are really site selection, project structure, lining up the right capital and commercial partners. As we've already mentioned, we're in active due diligence on two specific potential sites, looking at things like feedstock access, logistics, utilities, permitting, and of course, the overall economics of the project in that particular type of location. Our goal is to settle on and secure the lead site and then spend the balance of the year making real progress on site-specific FEL2 engineering. That's really basically the stage where you move from concept into a much more defined and specific plant design down to every nut and bolt for that particular location, cost estimate, and the execution plan to begin executing a bond.

Dan Scott: Excellent. The second question, Steve, is what is the status of the feedstock market? There's been a lot of volatility in battery metal prices. How does that affect your commercial position?

Steve Cotton: Yeah, great question. Today, effectively all of the black mass produced in the United States and really North America is being exported offshore simply because there really aren't yet commercial scale refining options here domestically. That's exactly the opportunity we're pursuing with the first build of our commercial ARC. The market does demand competitive payables for feedstock, but we believe our lithium AquaRefining process puts us in a very strong position because of its potential CapEx and OpEx advantages. Importantly, we're already working to diversify through both end-of-life batteries and gigafactory scrap, as I mentioned earlier. That includes our announced MOU, like I mentioned earlier, with American Battery Factory in Tucson.

Steve Cotton: We can take end of life and beginning of life batteries that didn't make it, and that's about half of the scrap, of the overall material is gigafactory scrap at this point in time. It's also important to note that the overall economics around refining black mass has improved meaningfully over the last year. A number of projects across the industry, which, including ours, slowed or paused when lithium carbonate prices fell to around $8,000 a ton in 2024. With pricing now having recovered to roughly the 20,000 plus or minus range per ton, we think that creates a much healthier backdrop. That's in turn a real opportunity for the remaining US players and especially for Aqua Metals, given the stage that we're at today.

Dan Scott: Thanks, Steve. The next one we got was is could you talk about the LFP breakthrough in more detail? Why is it significant, and what does it mean for your business model?

Steve Cotton: Yeah, great. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, the LFP breakthrough is really about our ability to economically recover lithium while also recovering the iron phosphate into a reusable form, and that's really a big deal. LFP does not have nickel or cobalt to support the economics, so you really have to run an efficient process, and that's exactly where our lithium AquaRefining technology stands out. That matters not just for future end-of-life batteries, but for the growing volume of LFP gigafactory scrap, such as American Battery Factory, already being generated today, and what we expect from American Battery Factory as they come online. As LFP continues to scale across energy storage and EVs, we really think that puts us in a strong position to be a leader in the new LFP batteries.

Dan Scott: All right. Thanks. Eric, next one's for you. Can you expand on your liquidity position coming out of 2025? How long your current capital supports your operations?

Eric West: Yeah, definitely, happy to expand on that. You know, pointing to, you know, we ended the year with $10.8 million of cash, no long-term debt and a lower operating burn. You know, this has put us in a pretty strong position as it compared to prior periods. We continue to exercise cost discipline, as, you know, as we continue to progress. Just to add some additional context, you know, the capital raised during 2025 was about $20 million in total, which really helped us to strengthen the balance sheet and put us in a position to fund all of the work that we're doing now.

Eric West: Really that gives us the, you know, solid flexibility as we continue to move forward on the overall engineering site selection and our partnerships that we've discussed that really lead us to our first commercial facility. Overall, we feel good about where we are. The focus now is just continuing to be disciplined and making sure that we deploy the capital against the right milestones.

Dan Scott: All right, a couple more. Steve, you've announced MOUs with Impossible Metals and MOBY Robotics for deep-sea mineral applications and also an LOI with Westwin Elements. How do these partnerships fit with Aqua Metals' core business, and what do they look like commercially?

Steve Cotton: Yeah. At a high level, all of these partnerships are about applying our core AquaRefining platform to new sources of critical minerals. Importantly, opening up to a very large high TAM market, get access to that where we can really monetize that capability. We view them as directionally aligned and not a distraction at all. Whether it's black mass or gigafactory scrap or primary resources like deep sea nodules or refining intermediates from partners like Westwin, the common thread is our ability to process these complex materials efficiently and with a lower environmental footprint, and have access to the TAM of those gigantic markets in addition to battery recycling in our sites.

Dan Scott: Okay. The last question we have is, Steve, how do you view the ongoing consolidation in the battery recycling industry, and does it create opportunity or risk for Aqua Metals?

Steve Cotton: We view the consolidation overall as a net positive for Aqua Metals. The reality is that the lithium price collapse that happened in 2024 exposed which models were resilient and which were not. At the same time, the industry is learning that simply copying China's chemical-intensive hydro approach into North America is really a very tough economic proposition. That's why we built AquaRefining differently from the beginning, and that is inclusive, again, as a reminder, of vastly lower chemical intensity and costs, lower waste because we don't produce sodium sulfate waste streams. Whereas the incumbent China hydro process produces more sodium sulfate waste stream than product, we produce zero sodium sulfate waste stream and don't have all the costs associated with it.

Steve Cotton: It's a process that we believe is much better suited to North American permitting and operating realities with safe jobs and a much more clean type of an operation without the cost in those waste streams. As the weaker models fall away, we think that our position does become increasingly and interestingly more differentiated and stronger.

Operator: Okay. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time.

Steve Cotton: That's it.

Operator: I'd like to pass the call back over to Steve for any closing remarks.

Steve Cotton: All right. Well, thank you everybody for listening in. For those of you that are reading the transcript in the future, we look forward to continued communicating our updates in the near future as we continue to develop Aqua Metals and the rest of 2026. We're really excited to keep everybody in the loop. Thanks again.

Operator: This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

Q4 2025 Aqua Metals Inc Earnings Call

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