Judd Merrill: As Steve mentioned, we will see revenues this year from the pilot operation, not huge amounts, but starting to head in the right direction. Where it gets more exciting is when we start building out and getting the pilot or the demonstration and commercial phase one at the campus facility going. So, we predicted that and modeled that that first phase could generate about €“ or it could process 3,000 tons of black mass through that. And so, if you think about that and start to model that, we look at what is the value of the metal in that black mass per ton. And we’re seeing anywhere, at today’s metal prices, between $20,000 and $30,000 worth of metal. So, that first phase could generate 60-plus-million-dollars of revenue.
The campus is intended to be built out to a total of 10,000 ton capacity. So, once we get that first phase one up and running in 2024, we’ll begin developing and constructing and installing equipment in the second phase to get it up to that 10,000 ton capacity. So that gives you a little bit idea of like what the potential is and where we’re heading.
Bob Meyers: And there’s a question here coming in on the portal around patents and the pending patents that we have around AquaRefining? Can we talk about that a little bit?
Steve Cotton: We’ve submitted the patents in the first half of last year. So we’re expecting those patents come through anytime now. We’re somewhat at the mercy of the other governments reviewing them, but we’re excited that we could be announcing those very soon.
Bob Meyers:
Steve Cotton: Could you maybe restate the question? It cut out.
Bob Meyers: Okay, sorry. This is related to the pilot plant and building out the new building on the Waltham campus. We talk about time and days, how we think about scaling pilot plant as we want to start moving equipment and building out the new campus.
Ben Taecker: Let me give you an update on the pilot plant and then what we’re calling our demonstration plant which is the larger 3,000 metric ton plant that Judd referred to. This is Ben. At the pilot, we’re currently going through the commissioning phase. So we’re seeing the metals work through the system. As we’re charging the system with more and more black mass, we’re seeing that push through is kind of how the process works. So, we’re going to see in the near future the rest of the array of the metals coming through. We’re currently operating on a 16 by 5 schedule and we’ll be ramping to a 24 by 5 schedule, which will really help to throughput in the near future and allow it to reach steady state and maximize the throughput of the operation.
So, we’re going to see that ramp quite quickly here over the next couple of weeks. On the demonstration plant, so we’re going to be designing and building for a full 3,000 metric tons of capacity at that operation. And once we get that system installed, we’ll do a similar type of a ramp where we’ll see that number go up over the course of two to three months as we make it through the commissioning system and fully charge the system.
Bob Meyers: That was the last question coming in on the portal. So I think we can start to wrap up.
Steve Cotton: Well, thanks, everybody, for joining the call today and lots of great questions. And we’re always here for follow-ups. We also are here if someone wants to come and see the facility. Now that we’re operating, we can arrange that. We’ve been prioritizing, as I said in the past, strategic visitors. But as we continue through this quarter and into next, we anticipate we’ll be able to take more people through the facility and show everybody how special it truly is. And thanks again, everybody, for your time and we look forward to further updates in the near future.
Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference. All parties may disconnect. Have a great evening.
