The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - January 8, 2025
Core from drilling through the lithium-enriched clays at the world-class deposit at Thacker Pass.
Multiple steps are required to upgrade Thacker Pass ore (left) to battery-grade lithium carbonate for EV batteries(right).
Lithium Americas and General Motors' Thacker Pass Mine project in Nevada now hosts enough reserves to supply the lithium needed for the batteries to power more than 250 million electric vehicles over the next 85 years.
Lithium America President and CEO Jonathan Evans says a new reserve calculation and supporting technical report detailing the plans for an initial 25 years of mining at Thacker Pass and enough reserves to keep the operation going for more than eight decades "demonstrates the multigenerational opportunity for transformational growth the project creates."
According to the updated calculation, Thacker Pass hosts 14.3 million metric tons of lithium carbonate-equivalent in 1.06 billion metric tons of reserves averaging 2,540 parts per million lithium.
The Thacker Pass reserves, enough to support up to 85 years of mining based on the operation outlined in the technical report, represent less than a third of the overall deposit outlined by Lithium Americas.
In total, the northern Nevada deposit hosts 44.5 million metric tons of lithium carbonate-equivalent, which would be enough for roughly 250 years of production at the scale of operation currently envisioned.
"Thacker Pass is now the largest measured lithium reserve and resource in the world and has the potential to become an unmatched district, generating American jobs and helping the U.S. regain independence of its energy supply," Evans added.
Multiple steps are required to upgrade Thacker Pass ore (left) to battery-grade lithium carbonate for EV batteries(right).
The world-class size of lithium deposits at Thacker Pass attracted GM, which invested $625 million to acquire a 38% joint venture interest in Lithium Americas' battery metal mining project in Nevada.
"Together, Lithium Americas and GM are focused on bringing Thacker Pass to production to significantly improve domestic output of critical lithium supply to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and to start creating new jobs and bringing economic activity to northern Nevada," Evans said upon the Dec. 23 closing of the Thacker Pass JV.
Upon sealing the partnership that puts GM in the business of mining, the automaker deposited $330 million, and Lithium Americas deposited $138 million in the JV. GM will fund another $100 million and Lithium Americas another $181 million when the partners make the final decision to begin development of the first phase of mining at Thacker Pass, which will produce 40,000 metric tons of lithium per year, enough for 800,000 average-sized EVs per year. GM already has an offtake agreement for all the phase-one capacity.
To keep pace with the growing EV sector, the mine plan envisions expanding Thacker Pass' annual lithium output by 40,000 metric tons over four phases spaced roughly four years apart. When phase four comes online, the Nevada operation would be producing enough lithium for more than 3.2 million EVs per year.
The technical report estimates that it will cost approximately $2.93 billion to develop the first phase of mining and processing at Thacker Pass.
The $749 million to be deposited in the JV by GM and Lithium Americas, coupled with a $2.3 billion loan under the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, is expected to provide the funds needed to get mining underway at the largest lithium deposit in the world.
With the new reserve calculation and supporting technical report complete, Lithium Americas and GM are expected to announce a final Thacker Pass Mine investment decision in the coming weeks and begin construction before midyear. This would put the operation on pace to begin delivering lithium for GM EV batteries by the end of 2027.
"We are committed to safely and sustainably developing Thacker Pass while engaging with our stakeholders to increase domestic production of critical minerals," Evans said.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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