Aqua Metals’ FY2020 revenues suffered due to a fire event following which the company’s commercial production was halted during the year. Proceeds earned for 2019 lead compound inventories resulted in minimal revenues in the year. The company posted a operating loss of $15.4mn in FY2020 compared to a loss of $40.8mn in FY2019. Net loss contracted in 2020 to $25.8mn compared to a net loss of $44.8mn in FY2019.
In 2020, Aqua Metals received insurance proceeds of $20.9mn. Post 2020, the company received $0.1mn as insurance payment with the total insurance collected increasing to $23.5mn.
Aqua Metals retired a loan with Vertex Bank in Q4 with insurance proceeds, $7.9mn in escrow and a $1mn deposit certificiate, making the company debt-free. Due to the change in operations at McCarran, Nevada facility, the company had to close a trust account and write-off an asset retirement obligation of around $0.8mn.
Earlier on Feb 23, Aqua Metals announced the filing of a provisional patent for AquaRefining methodology, which is used to recycle wasted lithium-ion batteries.