US Elemental
Definitive (DA signed)Pre-revenueMaterials · lithium and magnesium mineral resource development · Reno, United States · founded 2018
- What it is
- Pre-production mineral development: advance the 100%-owned McDermitt claystone lithium deposit through definitive feasibility (2026-27), Plan-of-Operations permitting (2026-28) and project financing (2027-29) toward battery-grade lithium carbonate production; no product, no customers, no revenue today - value case is the PFS NPV and U.S. critical-minerals policy support (FAST-41, DOE).
- What it’s doing now
- Merging with Constellation I (CSTAF) — definitive (da signed), announced Apr 9, 2026; expected close H2 2026.
- What you should know
- It reports no meaningful revenue yet — this deal is priced on a story, not on financials. The real share count puts the effective valuation 76% above the announced $500M. The deal carries a $14M minimum-cash condition — heavy redemptions can break it.
The business, per its filings
SEC primaryDeveloping the McDermitt Lithium Project in the Oregon/Nevada region to extract near-surface sediment-hosted lithium ore and process it into domestically produced, battery-grade lithium carbonate.
| Cash | $0M |
| Debt | $0M |
Source: 425, accession 0001213900-26-093084 · as of Mar 31, 2026 · extraction confidence: high
What the company says about itself
Web research — not auditedSite pitches 'Securing America's Lithium Supply': McDermitt as a Tier 1 U.S. lithium resource, one of the first ten FAST-41 transparency projects, DOE-partnered process optimization, potential magnesium by-product upside, +60% forecast EBITDA margin, JORC-compliant reserves and resources; frames a 'market re-rating of strategic metals' as the investment thesis.
- Markets:
- U.S. lithium / critical minerals
- Products:
- McDermitt Lithium Project (Tier 1 U.S. lithium resource, targeted American-made battery-grade lithium carbonate); Clayton North project
Source: https://uselemental.com · captured Aug 14, 2026 · marketing claims are reported as claims, never merged into the filed figures above.
The deal it’s entering
US Elemental is merging with Constellation I (CSTAF), a $304M SPAC currently marked Deal announced and trading at $13.05 against $13.78 in trust per share.
| Headline equity value | $500M |
| Effective valuation (all shares) | $882M+76% vs headline |
| Sponsor promote | 20% |
| PIPE | $21MNo third-party common-stock PIPE. At signing a Sponsor affiliate bought 1,550 shares of HiTech 12.0% Series A Cumulative Convertible Preferred for $1,550,000 (exchanged at Closing for PubCo Preferred |
| Minimum cash to close | $14M |
| Post-close ticker | ULIT |
Structure per SEC accession(s) 0001213900-26-042083, 0001213900-26-057759. How to read these numbers: headline vs effective valuation · what a definitive agreement commits
What exactly is being valued, and at what
Three different numbers are all called the deal value
They are not the same fact, and only the last one is what a valuation multiple may be struck on.
What US Elemental Inc. (HiTech Minerals / McDermitt Lithium) on its own is valued at, before a dollar of the SPAC's trust or the PIPE reaches it. This is the price agreed for the business itself.
assumes 0% redemptions
Every share of the combined company, marked at the reference price, once the deal closes — the business PLUS the cash that arrives with it. This is the figure press headlines quote, and it is bigger than the business for that reason alone.
The combined company net of that cash — what the buyers are paying for the BUSINESS. Every multiple below is struck on this figure and on nothing else.
What that price is, per dollar of sales
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA — not shown
No EBITDA figure for US Elemental Inc. (HiTech Minerals / McDermitt Lithium) appears in any filing we hold, so no EV/EBITDA multiple is shown. We have not inferred one from a margin assumption — a multiple built on an assumed margin measures the assumption, not the company.
What qualifies these figures
- The equity and cash figures above assume NOBODY REDEEMS — the filing's own assumption, and the most favourable one available to it. Public shareholders in this market frequently redeem most of a trust; at a higher rate both figures fall together and the enterprise value the multiples are struck on does not move.
- The announced headline of $500M and the filed pro-forma equity value of $586.2M are not the same number. Both are recorded as stated; we have not reconciled them for you.
All figures above are stated in EX-99 investor presentation (deal-signing deck)0001213900-26-042089
Was this deal done at an expensive or a cheap valuation?
SpacBrain’s read on the price
No multiple can be computed
US Elemental Inc. (HiTech Minerals / McDermitt Lithium) has no meaningful revenue yet, so no multiple is computable — this is priced on a story, not on financials. The deal still values it at $571.2M.
The company reports no meaningful sales yet, so there is nothing to divide the price by.
Pro-forma enterprise value as filed.
No meaningful revenue in the most recent reported period.
Not computable — the filings show no meaningful revenue for the most recent reported period.
$1 of their sales costs $13.33 on the open market. Median of 3 listed companies we judged a true comparable, which individually run from 3.09× to 277.25×. Their share prices are from 14 August 2026, not today.
What qualifies the figures above
- LAC, ATLX, SLI, ABAT, CRML, FNUC, JLL.AX, LAR, FEAM, CTGO, USAU, AUST, NUCL have no revenue to divide by, so they are shown but left out of the peer median.
The listed companies it is measured against
| Ticker | Company | Mkt cap | EV / revenue | EV / EBITDA | Why it’s comparable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAC | Lithium Americas Corp. | $1.3B | — | — | Lithium Americas' Thacker Pass is the only other lithium resource in the same McDermitt Caldera - identical geology, jurisdiction and DOE-loan policy tailwind, one development stage ahead.more ▾less ▴ |
| IONR | ioneer Ltd | $249M | 277.3x | — | ioneer's Rhyolite Ridge is the closest listed U.S. pre-production lithium developer analogue: Nevada sediment-hosted project, DOE loan, permitting-stage valuation.more ▾less ▴ |
| ATLX | Atlas Lithium Corp | $112M | — | — | Operational comp: Specialty Mining & Metals (NEC); micro-cap ($112m); shares lithium, minerals, project, exploration, mineral, ore with the target's own description; forward EV/Sales 729.3x.more ▾less ▴ |
| SLI | Standard Lithium Ltd. | $569M | — | — | Standard Lithium - US-listed pre-revenue lithium development company (Arkansas DLE) trading on resource size and project NPV rather than earnings, like US Elemental.more ▾less ▴ |
| ABAT | American Battery Technology Company | $158M | — | — | Operational comp: Specialty Mining & Metals (NEC); micro-cap ($158m); shares lithium, claystone, nevada, resource, exploration, value with the target's own description; forward EV/Sales 14.6x.more ▾less ▴ |
| ALB | Albemarle Corporation | $15.8B | 3.1x | 12.3x | Albemarle is the scaled U.S. lithium producer that anchors what the market pays for actual lithium-carbonate earnings versus development-stage promises.more ▾less ▴ |
| CRML | Critical Metals Corp | $376M | — | — | Operational comp: Specialty Mining & Metals (NEC); small-cap ($376m); shares lithium, project, minerals, mining, mine, critical with the target's own description; no forward EV/Sales published — counted as a peer, excluded from the median.more ▾less ▴ |
| SGML | Sigma Lithium Corporation | $1.3B | 13.3x | 540.6x | Sigma Lithium - recently-ramped single-asset lithium producer showing the multiple a project earns once it crosses from PFS paper into production. |
| FNUC | Frontier Nuclear and Minerals Inc | $43M | — | — | Operational comp: Uranium (NEC); micro-cap ($43m); shares lithium, minerals, exploration, project, hosted, mine with the target's own description; no forward EV/Sales published — counted as a peer, excluded from the median.more ▾less ▴ |
| JLL.AX | JINDALEE FPO [JLL] | — | — | — | Jindalee Lithium is the ASX-listed parent rolling 100% of HiTech and keeping ~80%+ of US Elemental - the most direct read on how the market prices this exact asset; AUD quote so multiples excluded.more ▾less ▴ |
| LAR | Lithium Argentina AG | $906M | — | — | Operational comp: Specialty Mining & Metals (NEC); small-cap ($906m); shares lithium, project, resource, mining, mineral, has with the target's own description; forward EV/Sales 3.5x.more ▾less ▴ |
| FEAM | 5E Advanced Materials, Inc. | $70M | — | — | Operational comp: Specialty Mining & Metals (NEC); micro-cap ($70m); shares lithium, carbonate, project, americas, resource, claims with the target's own description; no forward EV/Sales published — counted as a peer, excluded from the median.more ▾less ▴ |
| CTGO | Contango Silver & Gold Inc | $395M | — | — | Operational comp: Gold Mining; small-cap ($395m); shares mining, minerals, project, exploration, mineral, claims with the target's own description; no forward EV/Sales published — counted as a peer, excluded from the median.more ▾less ▴ |
| USAU | US Gold Corp | $271M | — | — | Operational comp: Gold Mining; micro-cap ($271m); shares project, nevada, exploration, mining, deposit, mineral with the target's own description; no forward EV/Sales published — counted as a peer, excluded from the median.more ▾less ▴ |
| AUST | Austin Gold Corp | $20M | — | — | Operational comp: Gold Mining; micro-cap ($20m); shares nevada, oregon, mining, project, claims, exploration with the target's own description; no forward EV/Sales published — counted as a peer, excluded from the median.more ▾less ▴ |
| NUCL | Eagle Nuclear Energy Corp | — | — | — | Operational comp: Uranium (NEC); shares mcdermitt, nevada, oregon, mining, project, border with the target's own description; no forward EV/Sales published — counted as a peer, excluded from the median.more ▾less ▴ |
Which companies belong on this list is our judgement, and the sentence beside each one is the whole of our reasoning — disagree with it and the verdict above changes. Rows marked context only are shown because they are informative, but they are deliberately left out of the median. The multiples come from listed-company data priced Aug 14, 2026; a private target’s deal multiple is not audited the way theirs are.
Common questions
Is US Elemental going public?
US Elemental has a signed merger with the SPAC Constellation I (CSTAF), announced Apr 9, 2026. The combined company expects to trade as ULIT. Deal status: Definitive (DA signed).
What is US Elemental's SPAC deal valuation?
The announced headline equity value is $500M, but counting every share class — founder promote, PIPE and public shares — the effective valuation is $882M, 76% above the headline.
Was US Elemental bought at an expensive or a cheap valuation?
US Elemental Inc. (HiTech Minerals / McDermitt Lithium) has no meaningful revenue yet, so no multiple is computable — this is priced on a story, not on financials. The deal still values it at $571.2M.
Does US Elemental have revenue?
No meaningful reported revenue in its most recent filed period — the deal is priced on a story and projections, not on financial results. Treat every valuation multiple accordingly.
Educational content, not investment advice.
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