General Motors will make a $650 million equity investment in Lithium Americas to help advance Thacker Pass.
Lithium Americas is targeting 80,000 tonnes per annum of battery-quality lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) production capacity from Thacker in two phases of 40,000 tpa. Project life is estimated at 40 years utilizing less than 25% of the current measured and indicated.
A court decision is still pending on whether Thacker should proceed. Earlier this month a U.S. judge said she will rule "in the next couple of months" about whether former U.S. President Donald Trump erred in 2021 when he approved Lithium Americas Corp's plan to build Thacker.
"[The] investment supports the development of Thacker Pass, the largest known lithium resource in the U.S.," wrote Lithium Americas in a news release, which announced the GM investment today. "It's the largest-ever investment by an automaker to produce battery raw materials, with GM to become Lithium Americas’ largest shareholder. The project is estimated to supply lithium needed for up to one million electric vehicles per year."
Lithium Americas will supply GM with lithium carbonate production from Phase 1 of Thacker Pass. The offtake agreement between the two companies will be based on an agreed upon price formula linked to prevailing market prices.
