Name of the Project
Thacker Pass lithium project.

Location
Humboldt County, Nevada, in the US.

Project Owner/s
Lithium Americas.

Project Description
Lithium Americas aims to extract lithium at Thacker Pass from a large clay deposit, something that has never been done before at commercial scale.

The project is targeting 80 000 t/y of battery-quality lithium carbonate production capacity in two phases of 40 000 t/y each.

Thacker Pass will have a mine life of 40 years.

The mine is slated to be a key supplier to General Motors.

Potential Job Creation
The project is expected to create 1 000 jobs during construction and 500 jobs during operations.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $4.95-billion and an internal rate of return of 21.2%.

Capital Expenditure
$2.2-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Phase 1 production is expected to start in the second half of 2026. The project is expected to run at full capacity by 2028.

Latest Developments
Lithium Americas has reported that automaker General Motors (GM) has delayed the second tranche of investment, worth $330-million, in the miner until the end of the year.

GM announced an investment of $650-million, in two tranches, in Lithium Americas last year to help it develop the project, which holds enough of the battery metal to build one-million electric vehicles a year.

The investment conditions for the second tranche included the successful execution of a $2.26-billion loan agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE), which the company is rushing to finish by the end of the year amid uncertainties regarding the results of the US Presidential election.

Lithium Americas is exploring alternative structures for the investment and has extended the date for deal closure to December 20. If the deal is not concluded by that date, it will have to grant additional rights to the automaker. The company continues to work closely with the DOE and expects to close the DOE loan and additional GM investment by the end of the year.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Aquatech International (magnesium sulphate and lithium carbonate chemical plants); Bechtel Corporation (engineering, procurement and construction management); EXP Global Inc (engineering, procurement, construction support, commissioning and startup services for the sulphuric acid plant).

Contact Details for Project Information
Lithium Americas, email info@lithiumamericas.com.