Lithium Americas, US Government takes over 5% and enters into jv with General Motors
Agreement on public loan vital to finance the development of a maxi lithium deposit in Nevada with associated refining facilities
The Trump administration's new state capitalism crosses US borders for the first time, with the government's entry into the capital of a Canadian company. It is Lithium Americas - headquartered in Vancouver and dual listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges - of which the US Department of Energy will become a 5% shareholder, and which will also acquire an identical stake in the joint venture between Lithium Americas and General Motors, which is developing a maxi lithium deposit in Nevada - the largest in the western world, among those with certified reserves - with annexed refining plants.
The real object of Washington's interest is precisely this: the Thacker Pass project, which when fully operational will produce 40,000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonates, ready for use in batteries. Important volumes, which will multiply by eight the production capacity of this strategic material in the USA, where today there is only one plant in operation, controlled by Albemarle.
Lithium Americas - which will make way for the new 'excellent partner' with a capital increase - further flamed out on the stock exchange, gaining more than 20 per cent in yesterday's Wall Street session, with gains of even more than 40 per cent immediately after the deal was confirmed.
The company's market value has almost doubled since the beginning of the year, to around USD 1.7 billion, largely on the back of anticipations and then the confirmation of the US government's entry into the capital, along the lines of what happened last summer with Intel and with Mp Materials, the only US producer of rare earths.
The Trump administration had entered into negotiations with Lithium Americas and GM over a vital $2.6 billion government loan to finance the development of Thacker Pass, which had been granted in 2024 when Joe Biden was still in the White House. The terms of the loan now "have been restructured," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a memo yesterday, "in a manner that further protects ratepayers and solidifies the launch of America's only domestic source of lithium carbonate."
