Comstock Mining Inc. LODE,
is the stock du jour Wednesday, as it more than quadrupled on heavy volume to beat all premarket winners. The mineral development and manufacturing company announced deals in which it acquired rights to a maximum 64% stake in Linico Corp., 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, representing a total consideration of $ 10.75 billion. Comstock shares skyrocketed 307.6% and the trading volume of 13.0 million shares was already above the daily average of 12.7 million shares for the past 30 days. 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 view spent lithium-ion batteries as a powerful industrial mineral, and – as with any resource, we need the right team, the right technology and the right infrastructure to extract and process it, ‘said Corrado De Gasperis, CEO of Comstock. “This transaction brings all three together in an ecosystem of coordinated partners, operating systemically based on a common goal.” The most recent data available showed that Comstock’s short interest was only 0.2% of the IPO. The stock is up 120.6% in the last three months to Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX,
has gained 9.0%.