After Nevada lithium deal, GM eyes other sources for EV minerals supply
General Motors is eyeing further North American investments in lithium and other critical minerals used to build electric vehicles after boosting its investment in a Nevada mine to nearly $1-billion earlier this week, an executive said on Thursday.
The US automaker on Wednesday said it would form a joint venture with Lithium Americas to develop the Thacker Pass lithium mine, North America's largest source of the battery metal.
The move increases GM's investment in the project by an additional $325-million to $950-million after an initial investment announced last year. It also gives the automaker a partial ownership stake in the mine and doubles its access to production to at least 20 years.
While the Thacker Pass JV should supply GM with a "significant" amount of its lithium, the company is open to other critical minerals deals on the continent, Jeff Morrison, GM's senior vice president of global purchasing and supply chain, said in an interview on Thursday.
A majority of GM's deals are for minerals supply, not necessarily JVs, and the automaker likely would continue that approach, he added.
"We don't want to become a mining company," Morrison said. "Our main goal is to build out a North American based, Western-allied, reliant supply chain. To do that, we have to pick partners and assets and figure out what they need to do to industrialize and be successful."
GM also has agreements to buy cobalt from Glencore, an investment in nickel and cobalt miner Queensland Pacific Metals, and a lithium supply deal with Arcadium Lithium, among others.
The automaker in 2021 invested in Controlled Thermal Resources Hell's Kitchen geothermal brine project in California, although that project has experienced delays.
Morrison said GM is "still working with them and still staying close with them."
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
South African leader in Steel -Racking, -Shelving, and -Mezzanine flooring. Universal has innovated an approach which encompasses conceptualising,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
