Comstock Fuels Completes Financing with Marathon Petroleum

OKLAHOMA CITY, Feb. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comstock Inc. (NYSE: LODE) today announced a new investment and strategic collaboration with Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) to advance its lignocellulosic biomass refining solutions to commercial maturity. Comstock Fuels Corporation ("Comstock Fuels"), a subsidiary of Comstock Inc., has entered into a series of definitive agreements with subsidiaries of Marathon Petroleum Corporation ("Marathon"), involving the purchase of $14,000,000 in Comstock Fuels equity ("Investment").

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The Investment includes $1,000,000 in cash and $13,000,000 in payment-in-kind assets ("Payment-In-Kind Assets") by Marathon, comprised of equipment, related intellectual properties, and other materials located at a Marathon renewable fuel demonstration facility in Madison, Wisconsin ("Madison Facility"). Comstock Fuels will use the Madison Facility to increase Comstock Fuels' current pilot production capabilities in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Comstock Fuels’ advanced lignocellulosic biomass refining solutions are designed to align with oil producers by converting massive supplies of historically inaccessible biomass feedstock into drop-in hydrocarbon fuels for use in existing petroleum-based infrastructure.

Most current forms of renewable fuel draw from the same pool of conventional feedstocks, including corn, soy, and various vegetable oils in the U.S., and the entire universe of those feedstocks only represents a tiny fraction of the domestic fuel demand. In contrast, the U.S. Department of Energy has previously estimated that America can produce upwards of one billion tons per year of biomass for conversion into fuel. That’s enough untapped feedstock to produce more than 3 billion barrels of fuel per year with Comstock Fuels’ refining solutions.

“We’re excited to collaborate with Marathon’s team as we work to integrate the Madison Facility and advance our unique renewable fuels technology to commercial maturity,” said Kevin Kreisler, Comstock Fuels’ chief technology officer.

The transaction documents included Comstock Fuels’ board observation rights for Marathon and reiterated the parties’ commitment to finalize an offtake agreement, joint development agreement, and warrant agreement on or before May 31, 2025.

Additional information on the transaction documents is available online in Comstock’s February 28, 2025, Current Report on Form 8-K.

About Comstock Fuels Corporation

Comstock Fuels Corporation ("Comstock Fuels") delivers advanced lignocellulosic biomass refining solutions that set industry benchmarks for production of cellulosic ethanol, gasoline, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and other renewable Bioleum™ fuels, with extremely low carbon intensity scores of 15 and market-leading yields of up to 140 gallons per dry metric ton of feedstock (on a gasoline gallon equivalent basis, or "GGE"), depending on feedstock, site conditions, and other process parameters. Comstock Fuels additionally holds the exclusive rights to intellectual properties developed by Hexas Biomass Inc. ("Hexas") for production of purpose-grown energy crops in liquid fuels applications with proven yields exceeding 25 to 30 dry metric tons per acre per year.

The combination of Comstock Fuels’ high-yield Bioleum refining platform and Hexas’ high-yield energy crops allows for the production of enough feedstock to produce upwards of 100 barrels of fuel per acre per year, effectively transforming marginal agricultural lands with regenerative practices into perpetual drop-in sedimentary oilfields with the potential to dramatically boost regional energy security and rural economies.

Comstock Fuels plans to contribute to domestic energy dominance by directly building, owning, and operating a network of Bioleum Refineries in the U.S. to produce about 200 million barrels of renewable fuel per year by 2035, starting with its planned first 400,000 barrel per year commercial demonstration facility in Oklahoma. Comstock Fuels also licenses its advanced feedstock and refining solutions to third parties for additional production in the U.S. and global markets, including several recently announced and other pending projects. To learn more, please visit www.comstockfuels.com.

About Comstock Inc.

Comstock Inc. (NYSE: LODE) innovates and commercializes technologies that are deployable across entire industries to contribute to energy abundance by efficiently extracting and converting under-utilized natural resources, such as waste and other forms of woody biomass into renewable fuels, and end-of-life electronics into recovered electrification metals. Comstock’s innovations group is also developing and using artificial intelligence technologies for advanced materials development and mineral discovery for sustainable mining. To learn more, please visit www.comstock.inc.