Good morning, and thank you for joining Comstock Inc.'s Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call and Business Update. I'm Zach Spencer, Director of External Relations. Today is Thursday, October 30, 2025. We are streaming live, and this session is being recorded. A recording will be posted shortly after we adjourn in the Investor Relations section of our website. Today, we filed our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, and issued a press release summarizing third quarter results. Both documents are available on our website. As a reminder, Comstock is listed on NYSE American with the ticker LODE, L-O-D-E. Joining me today are Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock's Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Judd Merrill, Comstock's Chief Financial Officer. After their prepared remarks, we will take questions. We received more than 45 questions in advance of the call. If you have additional questions during the call, please use the Zoom Q&A window, and we will address as many as time allows. Today's discussion will include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties detailed in our SEC filings. Full risk disclosures can be found in our filings on the Investor Relations page and on the SEC website. With that, it is my pleasure to introduce our Chief Financial Officer, Judd Merrill. Judd, you may begin.
Thanks, Zach, and good morning, everyone. This was a transformative quarter for Comstock. We strengthened our balance sheet, funded our growth plans, and positioned the company for the next phase of commercialization. Our share count stood at 51.26 million as of both September 30 and today, October 30. I will cover a few financial highlights for the quarter, and Corrado will provide updates on each of the companies. We began the quarter with a major milestone, an oversubscribed equity raise that brought in $34.5 million in gross proceeds, netting us $31.8 million. Notably, this raise expanded our institutional shareholder base by over 30 new investors, which we view as a strong vote of confidence in our long-term strategy. These funds will strengthen our balance sheet and finance the launch of our R2v3 certified zero-landfill solar panel recycling business, allowing us to move from development to full-scale commercial deployment. Additionally, we placed $5.1 million of equipment deposits on our first industrial-scale solar recycling facility in Silver Springs, Nevada, designed to process approximately 100,000 tons per year or over 3.3 million panels annually. Site selection is also progressing for the next two U.S. facilities and storage locations. In conjunction with these activities, we made a deliberate move to eliminate all our debt. Every convertible note and promissory note has been cleared from our books. We executed a series of transactions across AST, LINICO, Northern Comstock, and Haywood to achieve this. As of the end of September, Comstock is completely debt-free compared to $8.5 million of debt at the end of last year. This is a significant moment for us financially, resulting in one of the cleanest, strongest balance sheets the company has had. We also closed the purchase of the Haywood industrial mineral properties, for which we paid $2.2 million in cash and stock. Upon closing the related sale, we received about $400,000 in cash, further enhancing our liquidity. At the end of the quarter, we had $31.7 million in cash and equivalents, including $12.4 million at Bioleum and net current assets of $21.3 million. Now, let me present a few slides that illustrate how we are simplifying our operations. The first slide shows the extinguishment of various obligations, and the next highlights the cleanup of our balance sheet. From my perspective as CFO, this quarter was not only about improving our balance sheet but also about positioning Comstock for real financial strength. I will now hand it back to Corrado to discuss our solar recycling platform and our broader technology roadmap.
Thank you, Judd. I truly appreciate it. It's quite striking to see the footnote disclosure, which in my opinion is understated. We have no debt, and as you've highlighted, we're proactively managing various obligations, allowing us to remain very focused. Silver is fundamentally part of who we are. The Comstock load represents the biggest silver discovery in America, with nearly 200 million ounces of silver extracted from an extraordinary epithermal deposit. Silver has been integral to our identity since the beginning. It's exciting to observe the current developments in silver as it increasingly serves not just as a precious metal, but also as an industrial metal. Demand surged in 2025 due to industrial uses, especially in solar panels and other electrification efforts. When people think about demand, they often associate it with batteries and electric vehicles; however, numerous applications such as compute infrastructure, GPUs, data centers, and robotics are significantly influencing demand, which is constraining mine supply for the first time in years. This year’s record demand is expected to continue rising dramatically over the next several years. The imbalance of demand surpassing supply is notably impacting silver pricing. My graph may be outdated, showing past years where demand exceeded supply and correlating to rising prices, but silver is not in the mid-30s anymore; it's in the high 40s. We anticipate continued growth in long-term demand. This is important because while we possess mineral assets, it importantly ties into our metal recycling efforts given that every solar panel has at least 0.5 ounces of silver. With production and processing of 3.3 million panels from a single production line, we are positioned to lead in silver production. I've mentioned this before and faced some criticism for it. I'm not trying to oversell it; I want to highlight that our aluminum revenue is impressive and our silver revenue is set to grow substantially in volume. When discussing a couple of million ounces from one production line, we are heading towards a leadership position. Our system has four key characteristics: it cleans contaminants effectively, has the lowest variable and operating costs in the industry, requires minimal labor to operate due to full automation, and boasts high-speed processing that allows us to handle a panel every 7 seconds. This efficiency enables scalability to millions of panels annually for a single production line. We offer our customers, primarily large utility companies, peace of mind, assuring them that their environmental liabilities will be fully resolved immediately. Our proven ability to produce clean materials reinforces our robust unit economics. Current indicators suggest that our projections will hold true, with outputs including clean aluminum, clean glass, and silver-rich tailings that we currently sell without refining. In the future, we aim to refine those further for silicon, silver, and rare earth metals like tellurium and gallium, depending on the type of panels processed. The significant news we share today is our positive communication from the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, which includes a clear timeline for our permits. We've engaged with them weekly over the past three weeks, resulting in a productive process. They've synchronized the timeline for the final permit issuances with our schedule, anticipating completion of public comment periods by Christmas, aligning with our equipment arrival in the fourth quarter and commissioning in the first quarter. We are thrilled to have the permitting process underway. The large facility you see has been continuously receiving panels; in fact, we recorded about $0.5 million in billings in the third quarter, keeping us on track for a projected $3.5 million in billings this year. The process has had a slow start leading up to the permits, but we're excited about expanding discussions regarding larger orders with existing and new customers. The scale-up of panel processing is taking shape. The facility you see can process the volume that would take a year in a small demo facility within just two weeks. Furthermore, it’s positioned next to an expansion area for storage, with current capacity for 4,000 to 5,000 tons, and potential for 20,000 to 25,000 tons. We maintain necessary legal separations between processing and storage facilities. Our unit economics remain solid, and our low variable costs establish our competitive edge. Our high-speed processes and upfront cash from customers seeking to mitigate their environmental liabilities further bolster our financial model. We haven't updated our offtake sales figures yet, but rising silver prices are favorably affecting that aspect as well. Our goal is to establish two facilities in Nevada, as the current market is around 3.5 million panels, projected to grow to 33 million panels by 2030. The potential for significant customer engagement is evident, as we see opportunities for larger clients with demands ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 tons annually, with the potential to grow to 50,000 to 100,000 tons. The demand correlates with the 1.4 billion panels deployed in the United States. This growth presents a massive opportunity, and speeding up our deployment strategy is crucial for success. Our customer base is concentrated in key states, with over half the market for end-of-life panels located in California, supplemented by Nevada and Arizona. This positioning gives us a competitive advantage, despite the strict permitting regulations. We're actively processing and shipping materials as well. In response to numerous questions, I’ll touch on our mining assets and briefly discuss Sierra Springs before moving to Q&A. For context, our company name stems from the Comstock Load, the historic 12-square mile mineral district that yielded nearly 200 million ounces of silver and over 8 million ounces of gold. While this area holds significant resources, we focus more on the central region where we've built infrastructure from 2010 to 2016. We are also excited about our recent acquisition of the Haywood Quarry, which positions us strategically near the Dayton resource. We haven’t invested in these mining assets since before August, and we sold the Mackay Precious Metals properties, retaining rights for our benefit. The monetization of our mining assets enhances our portfolio’s attractiveness and strength. We see significant resource potential across various claims, and our evaluations indicate compelling cash flow potential from varying gold price scenarios. We've garnered interest in our mining assets due to rising precious metal prices. Moreover, we enjoy a favorable position near Lake Tahoe and the California border, amidst one of the largest opportunity zones. Industrial development in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is booming, further enhancing our prospects. We’ve contributed funds towards Sierra Springs and are pursuing major transactions related to those properties. Our location is among the top for developments in hyperscale data centers and off-grid renewable energy. We're focused on monetizing our strategies while taking essential steps to unlock value for our company and shareholders. Concerning our fuel segment, Marathon Petroleum's investment in our fuel subsidiary in March 2025 marked a significant milestone. Subsequently, we established Bioleum Corporation, which has begun to forge its own identity under strong management recruitment across the biofuel supply chain. Our platform addresses bottlenecks in the renewable fuel industry by efficiently transforming feedstock into low-carbon fuels at high yields through our technological advancements. We aim to produce significant oil outputs from our demonstration facility using top-performing feedstocks. We're excited about our Oklahoma site, engaged in talks with local authorities for enhanced incentives and support for long-term development. Our initiatives attract interest from various sectors due to their efficiency and capacity for broader applications beyond fuels. In summary, we have numerous certified partners and our management team is expanding, showcasing our competence in the biofuel field. With that, I will pause for additional questions, Zach.
Okay. Thank you, Corrado and Judd. As I mentioned at the beginning of the call, we received more than 45 questions prior to the call. And I can see we have a number of additional questions coming through Zoom. Judd, our first question is for you. Where does liquidity stand today?
Yeah. So $31.7 million cash at the end of the quarter, corporate, that's $12.4 million at Bioleum and the net current assets at $21.3 million. And then, of course, we eliminated the debt, so that takes a lot of that debt service going forward away.
Okay. And how long is the cash runway?
So we are fully funded on our business plans to take Comstock Metals to sustain profitability and growth as we head into next year. And we're wholly dedicated to accelerating that growth with customer acquisitions and then the most efficient rollout of our metals processing and storage facilities that we're currently building right now. And then as a reminder, Bioleum is now self-funded through its own capital raises.
And why the loss on debt extinguishment and what's left?
The $2.77 million loss in Q3 reflects the payoff of the 2025 Kips Bay Note and changes to the legacy George and Alvin Notes. More importantly, we have eliminated the debt associated with those instruments, along with any future costs and dilution linked to these types of variable rate instruments. We're pleased to have that all behind us now.
And now that Comstock is funded, should we expect any dilution?
So we currently have the 51.26 million shares outstanding. And we're funded through commercialization and profitability of our first industry scale solar panel recycling facility. We haven't issued any shares since our transaction and capital raise in the quarter. Bioleum is being funded directly by strategic and financial sophisticated investors. So what have we done? We've positioned the company for a profit company in two of the most dynamic energy relevant exponentially growth markets. So our job really is to execute and capitalize on those opportunities. So we'll continue to do this in the most like fiduciary, responsible, diligent, professional and transparent means possible. We're here to grow the values and hopefully in large and meaningful ways. We did guide in early January our plans to create these two high-growth companies, a Nevada-based metals company and an Oklahoma-based oil and gas company that will be separated. And so we've accomplished almost all that work so far this year.
Judd, what will Comstock do with revenues once Plant 1 has funded future plants? Return excess cash to shareholders?
I'm jumping on that question. Okay. So the revenues, Plant 1, we expect that in the first half of the next year. Our first priority is going to be to reinvest those cash flows into expanding the metals recycling capacity. So each industry scale facility costs roughly $12 million to $15 million. And so once we've established multiple operating plans and then stabilize our cash generation, then we can evaluate what makes sense and that's our next highest priority.
Okay. And Judd, are there any plans to dilute to fund mining operations?
No. No. I mean we don't anticipate issuing any equity to fund mining. So our mining assets, we looked at the slides that Corrado presented. They're stable. They're well maintained. We've got a lot of property. They're being advanced selectively. So any funding that would likely come from either a joint venture or asset level transaction, that's how we would position it, but not new Comstock share issuances.
Okay. Thank you, Judd. Let's pivot to Corrado. Corrado, what is the strategic rationale for continued funding of SSOF in light of prior guidance on monetizing or divesting noncore assets?
I briefly touched on this earlier, and I’d like to elaborate. The requirements for land and energy in data infrastructure and data centers are more complicated than simply developing a site horizontally or vertically. There are important infrastructural needs concerning land, water rights, and energy, which are rapidly increasing. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a market of this magnitude, both in scale and financial terms. Our properties are exceptionally well-positioned, but they do require some involvement from us. We are very engaged in this area and recognize an opportunity to boost what’s happening, which prompted us to consider advancing additional funds. This consideration was made feasible by the overallotment and was also an opportunistic move. We understand that we can’t disclose all our activities just yet, but what we’re dealing with is substantial. It will necessitate more capital and will ultimately lead to significantly greater value for us and our shareholders. We’re not distracted by the current transactions; rather, we are fully invested. We hope to provide more information by early 2026 and are genuinely excited about this opportunity. While it may seem fortunate, we are in the best possible position. We are strengthening our foundation to ensure we can execute effectively. I hope that provides a clear understanding for now.
Corrado, why did revenue decline in Q3? And when does it inflect?
Regarding Metals, there are two aspects to consider. First, we were leasing some mining assets that we sold to Mackay, which led to a decrease in lease revenue in the second quarter as expected. The more significant focus is on our performance in metals. We experienced a strong Q1 and Q2, guiding for approximately $3.5 million in billings this year, and we've nearly reached $3 million by the end of Q3. Most of our efforts in Q3 centered around site preparation, building setup, and permitting. This doesn't imply that we reduced our market engagement; in fact, we have never been more engaged, and our pipeline is larger than ever. However, there is some sensitivity with our largest customers, who want to ensure we are resolving their liabilities before delivering panels. Some customers who have directly audited our larger facility are more flexible, while others, constrained by stricter corporate policies, require seeing our permits and expanded storage before they can proceed. This has resulted in a gradual progression. We have a solid backlog and are either on track or ahead of schedule in terms of scaling up our metal operations.
What's behind the higher SG&A and R&D?
The growth in SG&A is due to two main factors. We are scaling our businesses, which is reflected in increased rent for our facilities, including the addition of Madison and to a smaller extent, Oklahoma, as well as increases in personnel. This applies to both Metals and Bioleum. In Bioleum, we are investing in research, development, scientists, and chemists. For Metals, a significant portion of our expenses is for marketing and sales in the domestic market. Additionally, there were some nonrecurring items; for instance, by eliminating the Northern Comstock obligation, which was set to continue for a few more years, we reduced our liabilities in August. This action led to some expenses being accelerated in our P&L, but it will result in about $1 million in annual savings compared to our spending over the past nine years. We are pleased with this outcome since we have eliminated the obligation and achieved a permanent reduction in ongoing expenses.
We have several questions about Comstock Metals. Whatever happened to the metals recovery business and equipment?
That might refer to the mercury recovery or the lithium-ion battery. The quick answer is that from 2017 to about 2021, we were ramping up some metal recovery and recycling operations. The most significant development was our start in lithium-ion batteries, but we shifted focus to solar panels. To be clear, all our metal recycling and renewable metal efforts are centered around solar panel recycling. We have repurposed some assets from the lithium area, but that's pretty much finished. Regarding mercury, we have some assets at the mine site and in the Philippines that we are exploring with other companies, but we wouldn't classify it as a business. Our focus is solely on solar panel recycling.
Why not build smaller cookie-cutter plants to cut transportation costs?
Our strategy is to position our plants as close as possible to the solar fields and the solar panels that are at the end of their life. This approach helps us reduce logistics costs. Being located in Northern and Southern Nevada allows us to cover approximately 55% to 60% of the market we anticipate will be relevant between now and the early 2030s. Therefore, we believe Nevada is the ideal starting point, and we plan to expand our model throughout the country. The design of our facilities aims to maximize efficiency and speed; while we describe them as smaller, they are still quite impressive. When you visit our facilities, you'll see a highly effective system. A capital investment of $12 million can accommodate two or three production lines within a single facility. We have a plan to replicate this system after we have the first one fully operational by mid-next year. The idea of smaller facilities doesn't align with our goals; our focus is on speed and creating the most scalable and efficient system possible.
How are you monetizing all recycled materials?
So a ton comes in the door, we lose anywhere from 6% to 8% of that in a good way, right? We eliminate all the contaminants cleanly. And then the remaining 93%, 94%, whatever it is, that material is fully sold in the form of clean aluminum, clean glass and then the silver-rich tailings. So we're monetizing it by literally selling and billing our customers for those clean materials. Ultimately, we want to refine those materials and then we'll be at another higher level of value when we're selling silver or rare earths or more precious refined metals.
Can you elaborate on the current MSAs and the solar panel supply?
Yeah. I mean we signed three meaningful new MSAs just in the last quarter. I know we signed more than that, but I'd like to say three because remarkably, we signed a major utility, which is our bread and butter and we're targeting and what we have the most of. We signed an e-recycler, which is prominent and big volume potential. And we even signed an OEM, like an original manufacturer, not a lot of solar panel manufacturing in the United States, right? Most of it's in Asia. But those businesses, it's a little counterintuitive. They're not end of life. They're beginning or unfortunately, panels that never are born because something went wrong. But it's Steady Eddie businesses. And so we signed three of those. We're very excited about that. And that's our strategy, right, to build the biggest market share in the industry through these master service agreements and the supply chain.
We do have a lot of questions about Comstock Metals. This is a 2-part question. When will the Silver Springs site hit capacity followed by what about sites 2 and 3?
We are set to start commissioning in the first quarter. Ideally, we would have 15,000 to 20,000 tons of material ready during that time, which is definitely within reach since we already have nearly 5,000 tons documented. We plan to increase production starting in the second quarter. While we don't have complete clarity on reaching 20,000 to 25,000 tons, we know we can turn a profit at that level. That will serve as our initial milestone, with growth anticipated beyond that. I expect the facility won’t be fully operational until late 2027. Current data indicates some acceleration, but it’s still too early for definitive conclusions. For instance, earlier this year we received an order for 80,000 panels, which was very encouraging, but now we are discussing orders that are three to four times that amount, which is extremely exciting. Preliminary data suggests we might see progress sooner than expected, but we don’t have absolute certainty yet. We aim to have Site 2 operational by early 2027 and Site 3 by early 2028, if not sooner. As Judd mentioned, we are already in the process of site selection across various locations, including Southern Nevada, the Midwest, and the East Coast, engaging with customers, suppliers, and partners. There’s a lot of activity happening, and things are moving faster. However, conservatively speaking, with the first site operational at the beginning of next year and then adding the other two by 2028, we could have three facilities with a total capacity of 300,000 tons, which would establish a solid foundation.
Corrado, I think you touched on this, but how much throughput do you forecast for 2026 through 2028?
I mean, yeah, I did just sort of touch on. I mean, conservatively, this 20,000 to 30,000 range for a partial year next year would achieve our objectives. We'd be profitable. We'd be ramped up to a scale bigger than anyone's ever seen. To-date, hopefully exiting the year at a much higher run rate, getting to that full capacity by the end of the following year. I mean, could you be doing 200,000 by the end of '28? Most certainly, you could. So that's all prospective estimates. It's not based on hard core replacement schedules of our customers, but we're getting better and better insight to the replacement schedules of our customers, and it's certainly more than possible.
And what about silver refining?
So refining is a big topic, okay? It's a big topic because we care about it, and we're very excited about it. Fortunato has already developed his own conceptual designs of the best, most efficient ways to tackle this with our materials. Obviously, we're getting more and more educated with the varying compositions of our materials, some that have more of these rare earths, some that don't. And so he's got a conceptual design. It's exciting. So now we have to go into a TRL development process. We have to do some testing. We have to do some piloting and then ultimately get it up and running. Our desire is to start that posthaste as soon as Plant 1 is fully up and running. So middle of next year, but we're already identifying partners. We're already planning out some of the work because the government also thinks this is a very high priority. We couldn't agree more. But Department of Energy, Department of Defense, White House is saying, A, silver is a critical mineral. B, refining is a critical competency that we're missing to keep these materials here in the United States. So when people recycle batteries or solar panels and then just send all those materials to Asia for refining, it doesn't really achieve the goal of a domestic supply chain. So everybody cares about it. There may even be some funding support from the government to accelerate this stuff.
Corrado, you did touch on the silver refining. When might you invest in in-house silver refining?
I mean, if we started at the middle of next year, the earliest would be like end of 2027, and it could very much be later than that, right? What's key is we're building the material flow, right? And the bigger that material flow, the higher the value that will come when we ultimately do refine. And that applies not just to Silver, Zach, right? We're not looking at how do we just get the silver out and get rid of all the rest of the materials. We're looking at how do we get all of the elements out, how do we do it cleanly and how do we maximize the value.
Okay. When you say all of the elements, what's the status of rare earth element recovery?
It’s the same point. We are focused on extracting all the metals, not just the silver. This leads me to emphasize that we are aware of being the only company that can handle any type of panel, be it monocrystal, polycrystal, bifacial, cylindrical, or thin film. We accept all of them, which means we will have the greatest variety in the compositions we process. Consequently, we will also have the highest value from what we extract. Therefore, a comprehensive refining solution is essential.
Okay. Both you and Judd referenced Comstock Mining. So let's now pivot to a few questions on Comstock Mining. What's happening with the mining and land portfolio?
Yes. So I saw this question earlier. This is one of the earlier ones that came in, and I tried to demonstrate with that visual that we are very keen to have sufficiency of that portfolio. Obviously, we already have all the mineral properties. We already have the resources defined and being consolidated. But the Mackay transaction and the Haywood transaction really connected a lot of dots and made things either more efficient or more convenient in terms of anyone's prospect for mining. I mean we added almost 440 acres of industrial land, right, to that portfolio for no additional capital expended. It was remarkable.
Given the high gold prices, what are you doing to enhance mining interest?
I think the most meaningful thing that we're doing right now is besides engaging these counterparties with our assets and what they're capable of, we're finishing off a preliminary economic assessment. This has been in our objectives for the year. We made remarkable progress. I would say we have a few more months to go to finish it up. But that will be a published technical report, updating our current technical report. It will provide preliminary economics, meaning potential cash flows, cost to produce, return on investment capital, the whole shebang. And not only will that provide objective third-party validation of what we see, but it would also allow us to provide sensitivities, right? So third-party would do this, but what does this thing look like at $2,500 gold? What does it look like $3,500? What does it look like at $4,400 gold? And so we've seen some companies publish these recently. They're outstanding. They're transparent. They're crystal clear. And luckily for us, because of all the data we have in our previous mining history and otherwise, it's only a few tens of thousands of dollars for us to get this fully wrapped up. And it's a very important thing for our shareholders to know and maybe more importantly, for prospective mining companies to know.
And with that in mind, what's the biggest barrier to restarting mining?
Our only barrier would be prioritizing it. Like we're not prioritizing going into mining production. There's no scenario we're going to allocate $1 to restart a mine when we're looking at deploying 7 recycling facilities that could produce $350 million to $400 million of free cash flow a year. So that's it in a nutshell. So the most practical obstacle would be finding a partner or someone who wants to do it, right, and figuring out the smartest, most effective way to monetize those assets.
Will you joint venture or sell your gold and silver assets?
We use the term monetization, and to be clear, it can involve a joint venture where people pay us, a sale, or a combination of a sale and a royalty. Ultimately, monetization could also mean mining and generating revenue. That's where we stand on this matter, and we need to explore all the relevant options. Our focus is clearly on pursuing the first scenarios rather than the latter ones.
Okay, Corrado. And that was a 2-part question. Sorry, I didn't tell you that at the beginning. Any serious inquiries?
I would say yes now. Yeah, I would say yes now. There are serious inquiries, right? And there were a lot of not so serious inquiries before, just FYI.
All right. We have a final question on the mining and then we will move on to fuels. But the final one for mining. How sensitive is your internal view to precious metals prices?
I can provide information specifically about the Dayton resource, which contains over 300,000 gold equivalent ounces. We've established a mine plan and based on the recoveries, every $100 increase in gold could enhance our cash flow by more than $20 million. When the gold price rose from $3,500 to $4,000, our cash flow outlook improved from $500 million to $600 million. However, there is significant potential in the district beyond this single mine plan, as our resource covers only a small fraction of the thousands of acres available. The outlook is very promising.
Moving on to Bioleum Corporation. Has Bioleum secured Series A capital from outside investors for the refinery scale up?
So we have secured Series A capital. We have the deal that we announced and closed in May. Of course, we also have Marathon with their coming in with their facility and some additional cash commitment. We hired a Director of Capital Markets, who is extraordinary. We're doing a number of things, transactions at the Bioleum level to round out and fortify the supply chain. It's extremely exciting. These things will likely be known over the next month or so. And then we are finalizing all of our preparation to more formally go back into the market. It will probably be January. It will probably get done in Q1. We're feeling very, very, very good about it to raise and complete the Series A offering. And to be clear, the Series A offering was never for proceeds to build the first biorefinery, right? That would be a second capital raise at the project level with project financing for that larger scale commercialization. And those activities would come after the Series A. So yeah, that's it.
Okay. And you touched on this, but what is Bioleum's capital structure?
Yeah. We have $65 million in preferred stock. It represents about 75% today, pre-completion of the Series A, that number will absolutely go down when we complete the Series A, obviously, management and founders own 20% and the new investors to-date are about 5%. If we do some acquisitions with some stock and we finish the Series A, as I said, our 75% will be lower, but still very, very strong, very, very valuable, and we're extremely excited about it.
How did you determine the Oklahoma site?
The site activities in Oklahoma were important to us, focusing on logistics, proximity to feedstock, and relevant infrastructure. To be straightforward, we had many attractive sites in Oklahoma. The challenge wasn't finding a site, but determining which one would be the best to pursue first from an economic and transactional standpoint. We have identified a fantastic site. However, there are also discussions about another site that is being pursued aggressively, with potential for more incentives and capital. We are not being indecisive; we have some excellent opportunities that are going to develop. We are very optimistic about Oklahoma. The business environment is exceptional, better than I've seen anywhere else. This does not diminish the fact that the business environment in Wisconsin is also outstanding. We are fortunate to be located in two great places.
Staying with Oklahoma, please provide an update on the Oklahoma bond placement and other incentives.
We received a $3 million grant. The first $1 million was linked to our commitment to establish headquarters there, which is complete. The second million was associated with committing to a site, and that's also done, though we are currently considering a couple of options. I don't see any clear advantages or disadvantages between them; it's just a matter of which one will proceed first. Everything is on track. Additionally, we secured a $152 million bond allocation that is currently being extended as part of our original plan, which we anticipated would require a rollover or extension. Everything is progressing very well.
And are load shareholders still connected to the fuels business?
I apologize if there was confusion at the beginning of the year. I'm a bit surprised that the confusion is still ongoing. We separated Bioleum and accomplished our goal there. They have independently raised capital, which is a significant achievement that the market is still waiting to acknowledge and value. We recognize that we need to deliver more and achieve greater results for that to happen. Ultimately, the management team is highly motivated to complete these commercial activities and proceed with going public. The ultimate goal of our capital structure is to establish a standalone public company, which would provide us with a liquid investment in a major potential player in the oil and gas, as well as renewable gas sectors. I hope that clarifies things once and for all.
Okay. Thank you for that. Moving on to battery recycling. What about our investment in Green Li-ion and battery recycling?
Green Li-ion was initiated in 2021 when we started focusing on lithium-ion battery recycling. Initially, we were engaged in battery recycling, which produced a black mass that Green Li-ion technology could refine into precursor cathode active materials, similar to how we refine silver-rich tailings into more valuable products. However, as we shifted towards solar panel recycling, the Green Li-ion investment became less central to our strategy, and we are now looking to monetize it. They are making remarkable progress with their facility in Oklahoma, while we have already fully demonstrated our unit economics and are scaling to an industrial level. As they progress, I'm feeling more optimistic despite the inherent challenges in developing new technology. They have secured significant feedstock and offtake agreements with reputable automotive companies, which we find promising. While we hope for quicker advancements, it appears they may need to raise additional capital to reach the next phase. Ideally, during that process, we can monetize our investment. If they were to go public, it would facilitate our ability to do so. We closely monitor their developments and maintain good relationships with their team. However, scaling in any technology readiness level company can be challenging, and we are excited about our own advancements in metals and fuels. We anticipate that by mid to late next year, we might see a transaction that allows for some form of monetization.
We do have a follow-up question on Comstock Metals. Will we license our solar panel recycle business to other countries for royalties?
That's a good question. 1.2 billion, 1.3 billion, 1.4 billion, whatever number you picked for U.S. panel deployment is massive. But outside the U.S., it's 8x to 10x that. So you're talking about 8 billion to 10 billion panels deployed outside the U.S. And we have gotten some very positive inquiries, overtures, visits outside the U.S. jurisdiction with the interest in leveraging our technology in their countries. And so for us, we need to make sure that they're good partners. We need to make sure that there's some control over the process and the technology. So would it be a joint venture? Would it be some combination of a joint venture/licensing agreement? Yes, it's not at the top of our priority list, but it's certainly bubbling under the surface.
Okay. And a follow-up question on SSOF. Can you walk us through the increased investment in SSOF?
Yes. While I can't go into full detail, I can share what has transpired so far. We are currently involved in several transactions and need to ensure that SSOF is well-positioned to carry them out effectively. As we haven't finalized all the specifics, we've opted for a cautious approach. We’ve advanced some funds, and theoretically, we could recoup that amount without acquiring additional ownership or we may pursue a more significant investment. That's where we currently stand. It’s structured as a non-interest-bearing advance, though it's not without its costs. There is substantial opportunity here, and we're being very careful and diligent. We're in control, which is a positive aspect. Demand is strong in three sectors: solar panel recycling, biofuels, and data infrastructure, where demand is soaring. We need to be meticulous in our approach, and we’re committed to that. We won’t jeopardize our existing commitments. If you were to ask how we allocate our time, 95% is focused on executing the metal recycling deployment, while Fortunato and his team are dedicating their efforts—110%—to this deployment. Overall, we feel optimistic about the opportunities we’re encountering. We're striving for maximum focus to ensure successful execution, and thus far, we are pleased with our progress.
Corrado, we have a final question regarding Bioleum. How much do you expect to gain from the separation of Bioleum? And how will that affect the share price?
If you compare metals and fuels, they are quite different. Metals operate at high speed, require low capital, and achieve high throughput. In contrast, Bioleum experiences a slower pace in commercialization and deployment, necessitating higher capital but still offering strong throughput. The common factor is substantial growth and high throughput. While the market isn't limitless, it feels expansive to us. We occupy a minuscule segment of the liquid fuels market. In the U.S., our best projection is 8 billion gallons, which is a mere drop in the bucket of the 250 billion gallon market. Thus, our goals exceed the single billion-dollar valuations. I prefer not to predict specific values or timelines, but we have a five-year plan in place, aiming to be public or preparing for that transition within the next five to six years. Market conditions will ultimately determine the timing. Our execution will influence how soon we’ll be prepared for that phase. The potential for growth is substantial. Running scenarios around $1 billion is straightforward; if we captured 60% of that, or looked at scenarios of $10 billion or even $100 billion, the timeframe for realization is open-ended. I'm committed for the long haul, and two decades from now, we will possess something significantly different. The future is incredibly promising.
Corrado, we're nearing the end of our time together, and I believe we've addressed all the key questions. If we missed yours, feel free to send it to ir@comstockinc.com and we will try to respond directly or share the answer on X. For those not following us on X, our main account is @comstockinc. Please consider following us. Before we conclude, Corrado, could you share some final thoughts for the rest of Q4 and 2025?
Yeah, absolutely. The most exciting thing is the issuance of these permits, there's this public period and then the arrival of the equipment announcing new and bigger customers and then commissioning and going into production with metals. It's going to be fluid. It's a river from here until April-May, it's going to be incredible. With fuels, there'll be some transactions, and they're all fortifying and they're all credibility enhancing because of the capacity and competency and technology that they bring into the system. And then with mining and SSOF, I do think there will be some transactional activities. The timing of that is less in our control but becoming more and more prevalent.
Thank you, Corrado, and thank you, Judd. That concludes Comstock's Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call and Business Update. Thank you all for joining us.
Thank you.