The United States government is taking a minority stake in Lithium Americas, a company that is developing one of the world’s largest lithium mines in northern Nevada.
The Department of Energy will take a 5 percent equity stake in the miner, which is based in Vancouver. It will also take a 5 percent stake in the Thacker Pass lithium mining project, a joint venture with General Motors.
Thacker Pass is considered crucial in reducing US reliance on China for lithium, a critical material used to produce high-tech batteries used in cellphones, electric vehicles and renewable energy. Both Republicans and Democrats support the project and narrowing the production gap. China is the world’s largest lithium processor.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that the deal with Lithium Americas “helps reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals by strengthening domestic supply chains and ensures better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars”.
Thacker Pass is expected to produce 40,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year in its first phase, enough to help power 800,000 electric vehicles.
The equity stake in Lithium Americas is the latest example of the direct intervention by President Donald Trump’s administration in private companies. The government is getting a 10 percent stake in Intel through the conversion of billions in previously granted government funds and pledges. The administration spent $400m of taxpayer money in July on MP Materials stock to make the US government the biggest owner in the Las Vegas-based rare earths miner. Trump also made a deal with Nvidia and AMD to give the US government a 15 percent cut of revenue from selling certain chips to China.
Lithium Americas said on Wednesday that it reached a nonbinding agreement in principle with the Department of Energy to advance the first draw of $435m on the federal loan. The department has agreed to defer $182m of debt service over the first five years of the loan.
‘Massive opportunity’
The White House and Canada’s Lithium Americas seemed to be moving forward with the deal late last month as both parties agreed on changes to an approximately $2.3bn federal loan that could allow the project to move forward to extract the silver-white metal used in electric vehicle batteries. GM has pledged more than $900m to help develop Thacker Pass, which holds enough lithium to build 1 million electric vehicles annually.
Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush, called Thacker Pass a “massive opportunity” for the US to reduce its reliance on China and other foreign adversaries for lithium.
“Despite having some of the largest deposits, the US produced less than 1 percent of the global lithium supply, but this deal helps reduce dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals, strengthening domestic supply chains and ensuring better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars with lithium production set to grow exponentially over the coming years,” he wrote.
Shares of Lithium Americas spiked more than 30 percent on Wednesday.
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