Comstock Mining stock soars more than fourfold after taking stake in lithium-ion battery recycler

Comstock Mining Inc.
LODE,
+5.63%
is the stock du jour Wednesday, as it blasted higher more than fourfold on heavy volume to pace all premarket gainers. The mineral development and production company announced deals in which it secured rights for up to a 64% stake in Linico Corp., which is a lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling company. Comstock will pay $4.5 million in cash and 3.0 million shares of its restricted common stock, which represents a total consideration of $10.75 billion. Comstock shares shot up 307.6%, and trading volume of 13.0 million shares was already above the full-day average over the past 30 days of 12.7 million shares. Linico recently acquired a battery metal recycling facility in Nevada from Aqua Metals Inc., and Aqua Metals is investing $2 million for a 10% stake in Linico. “We see spent lithium-ion batteries as a potent industrial mineral, and – as with any resource, we need the right team, technology, and infrastructure to extract and process it,” said Comstock Chief Executive Corrado De Gasperis. “This transaction assembles all three into an ecosystem of aligned partners, operating systemically on a common goal.” The latest available data showed that Comstock short interest was just 0.2% of the public float. The stock has rallied 120.6% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.06%
has gained 9.0%.