Lithium Americas Corp. said Thursday it received a conditional commitment for a $2.26 billion loan to build the processing facilities at Thacker Pass, deemed the largest lithium mine in North America.

Located in Nevada’s Humboldt County, it is expected to produce 80,000 tonnes/year of lithium in two phases of 40,000 t/y each. Phase 1 is anticipated to start in 2027 and could meet the demand for up to 800,000 electric vehicles annually. Ramp-up is set to take up to 12 months.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) loan comes under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan programme, which is designed to support the country’s automotive industry and its value chain. The amount includes interest accrued during construction, which is estimated to be $290 million over the three-year construction phase, Kallanish learns.

Lithium Americas’ president and chief executive, Jonathan Evans, says the loan, alongside the $650 million committed by General Motors in January 2023, will provide “the vast majority of the capital” for Phase 1. The carmaker has exclusive offtake to 100% of the lithium production from Phase 1 for up to 15 years and has a right of first offer on Phase 2 production.

Construction of Thacker Pass began in early 2023 and work will ramp up in the second half of 2024, when the DOE loan is anticipated to close. The project is expected to create around 1,800 direct jobs during construction and another 360 in operations for its 40-year mine life. 

Lithium Americas and its engineering, procurement and construction management contractor, Bechtel, signed a construction agreement with North America’s Building Trades Unions to minimise construction risk, provide skilled labour and prioritise the employment of local and regional skilled craft workers.

The miner says it is committed to developing the project sustainably from a social and environmental perspective. Thacker Pass has been designed to avoid sensitive habitats and will employ advanced environmental control technologies to lower carbon emissions generation and water usage, the company adds.

Amid intense opposition from local communities and lengthy lawsuits, Thacker Pass faced several delays. Construction was cleared last year, though Conservation and Native American groups claimed the project’s approval was surrounded by issues including community consultation, wildlife, water pollution and air quality. The opponents also claimed the open-pit mine would destroy lands tribal people consider sacred because they say their ancestors were massacred there in 1865.

In 2022, it signed a binding Community Benefits Agreement with the nearby Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe, intended to provide infrastructure improvements at Fort McDermitt, additional job training and employment opportunities for tribal members, and support for cultural education and preservation.