Comstock Mining Inc. LODE,
is the stock du jour on wednesday as it exploded more than four times at high volume to pace all premarket winners. The mineral development and production company announced transactions through which it obtained rights for a stake of up to 64% in Linico Corp., which is a lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling company. Comstock will pay $ 4.5 million in cash and $ 3.0 million of its restricted common stock, for a total of $ 10.75 billion. Comstock shares rose 307.6%, and the trading volume of 13.0 million shares was already above the all-day average over the last 30 days of 12.7 million shares. Linico recently acquired a battery recycling facility in Nevada from Aqua Metals Inc., and Aqua Metals is investing $ 2 million in a 10% stake in Linico. “We see used lithium-ion batteries as a powerful industrial mineral and – as with any resource, we need the right equipment, technology and infrastructure to extract and process them,” said Comstock CEO Corrado De Gasperis. “This transaction brings all three together in an ecosystem of aligned partners, systematically operating on a common goal.” The latest available data showed that Comstock’s short interest rate was only 0.2% of the public float. The stock rose 120.6% in the last three months to Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX,
gained 9.0%.