Aqua Metals Named Winner of the San Francisco Business Times Technology and Innovation Award

Company recognized as one of the most dynamic and innovative companies in the Bay Area

ALAMEDA, Calif., April 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQMS), (“Aqua Metals” or the “Company”), which is commercializing a non-polluting electrochemical lead recycling technology called AquaRefining™, was named the winner of the San Francisco Business Times Technology and Innovation Award.

The San Francisco Business Times Technology and Innovation Award recognizes Aqua Metals for being a leading innovator in the Bay Area and the lead industry. The organization specifically awarded Aqua Metals for its innovation of AquaRefining, the battery industry’s first environmentally friendly lead-acid battery recycling technology.

“As a company that is young, progressive and passionate, we feel very privileged to be a part of the Bay Area community of innovators,” said Dr. Stephen Clarke, chairman and CEO of Aqua Metals. “Being recognized by this esteemed local organization is truly an honor, and we will continue to push toward further innovations and solutions that positively impact our society.”

Aqua Metals develops and manufactures the AquaRefining technology in the Bay Area and partners with multiple local manufacturers and vendors. The patent-pending technology is a closed-loop, room temperature electrochemical process that vastly reduces harmful air or water emissions. The modular design of the technology enables a rapid deployment of lead-acid battery recycling with further potential logistics and economic benefits by co-locating AquaRefineries with battery manufacturers and distributors around the globe. AquaRefining enables the battery community to recycle responsibly and contribute positively to the environment.

The Company is rapidly expanding its production capabilities as it scales the first facility. Additionally, Aqua Metals plans to install AquaRefining in a to-be named smelter site beginning in 2018, through its deal with Johnson Controls, the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive batteries. As it scales up capacity, Aqua Metals plans to hire hundreds of employees for existing and future operations across the United States, including in the Bay Area.

Aqua Metals is attending the awards ceremony on May 17, at San Francisco’s Julia Morgan Ballroom to accept this prestigious award.

About Aqua Metals
Aqua Metals (NASDAQ:AQMS) is reinventing lead recycling with its patent-pending AquaRefining^TM technology. Unlike smelting, AquaRefining is a room temperature, water-based process that is fundamentally non-polluting. These modular systems allow the Company to vastly reduce environmental impact and scale lead acid recycling production capacity both by building its own AquaRefineries and licensing the AquaRefining technology to partners. This meets growing demand for lead to power new applications including stop/start automobile batteries which complement the vehicle’s main battery, Internet data centers, alternative energy applications including solar, wind, and grid scale storage. Aqua Metals is based in Alameda, California, and has built its first recycling facility in Nevada’s Tahoe Reno Industrial Complex. To learn more, please visit www.aquametals.com.

Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Aqua Metals, Inc., the lead acid battery recycling industry, the future of lead acid battery recycling via traditional smelters, the Company’s development of its commercial lead acid battery recycling facilities and the quality, efficiency and profitability of the Company’s proposed lead acid battery recycling operations. Those forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Among those factors are: (1) the fact that the Company only recently commenced revenue producing operations, thus subjecting the Company to all of the risks inherent in a pre-revenue start-up; (2) risks related to Aqua Metals’ ability to raise sufficient capital, as and when needed, to develop and operate its recycling facilities; (3) changes in the federal, state and foreign laws regulating the recycling of lead acid batteries; (4) the Company’s ability to protect its proprietary technology, trade secrets and know-how and (5) those other risks disclosed in the section “Risk Factors” included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 2, 2017. Aqua Metals cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur.

Aqua Metals Media Relations:
Antenna
Brigit Carlson
Senior Account Executive
201-465-8031
aquametals@antennagroup.com

Aqua Metals Investor Relations:
MZ North America
Greg Falesnik
Managing Director
Main: 949-385-6449
greg.falesnik@mzgroup.us
www.mzgroup.us

Released April 27, 2017