EV Metals
EV Metals is a family of US investment vehicles controlled by energy investor Jacob Warnock, built around a single water-relevant bet: direct lithium extraction. As of April 2026, EV Metals holds a controlling 70.1% stake in International Battery Metals, whose patented, skid-mounted plants pull lithium from brine while recycling up to 98% of the water.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
EV Metals is barely a fund in the venture sense. It is a cluster of US investment vehicles, numbered VI through IX and registered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, controlled by Jacob Warnock, a Texas oil-and-gas investor who made his name buying mineral and royalty rights through his firm Silver Creek Resources. Their whole reason to exist is to bankroll one company.
EV Metals has poured that money into International Battery Metals, which builds patented, skid-mounted plants for direct lithium extraction, or DLE. Conventional lithium mining floods vast evaporation ponds and drinks scarce water for months; DLE instead pulls lithium straight from brine, reinjects the spent brine underground, uses no ponds or salt piles, and recycles up to 98% of the water it touches. That water story is the only reason a battery-metals bet lands on a water map at all.
EV Metals has not merely invested in International Battery Metals, it has quietly taken control of it. Through a run of private placements since early 2024 (five disclosed financings into the one company), Warnock's vehicles climbed from under 10% to a controlling 70.1% stake as of an April 2026 US securities filing, with a board seat and the right to approve a second director. That is an unusually concentrated, hands-on posture for what the directory files under strategic-corporate investing.
EV Metals is the rare entry in my Leviathan database that is really a control play wearing a venture label: one investor, one company, one technology. Whether direct lithium extraction proves out at commercial scale is the open question, and EV Metals has bet almost the whole table on the answer being yes.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Frequently asked
- What does EV Metals invest in?
- EV Metals invests in direct lithium extraction. The group of vehicles, controlled by Jacob Warnock, has put its capital behind a single company, International Battery Metals, which builds modular plants that pull lithium from brine while recycling most of the water used. EV Metals runs a concentrated, single-theme strategy, not a diversified portfolio.
- Who runs EV Metals?
- EV Metals is controlled by Jacob Warnock, a Texas-based energy investor and chief executive of Silver Creek Resources, a mineral and royalty acquisition firm. Warnock directs the EV Metals VI, VII, VIII and IX LLC vehicles and holds a board seat at International Battery Metals, the group's sole investment.
- How much of International Battery Metals does EV Metals own?
- EV Metals and Jacob Warnock held a controlling 70.1% stake in International Battery Metals as of an April 2026 US securities filing, built up from under 10% in early 2024. The position also carries a board seat and the right to approve one additional independent director.
- Why is a lithium investor listed on a water platform?
- EV Metals appears on a water platform because its one holding, International Battery Metals, is fundamentally a water-technology story. Its direct lithium extraction process replaces water-hungry evaporation ponds, reinjects spent brine underground, and recycles up to 98% of process water, sharply cutting the footprint of conventional lithium mining.
- Is EV Metals the same as EV Metals Group?
- EV Metals here refers to the US investment vehicles run by Jacob Warnock that back International Battery Metals. It is not EV Metals Group plc, a separate battery-chemicals company developing a lithium refining complex in Saudi Arabia. The two share only a name, with different owners, teams, and businesses.