THACKER PASS

PROJECT SUMMARY  

In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a $2.26 billion loan to Lithium Americas Corp’s subsidiary, Lithium Nevada Corp. (including $1.97 billion of principal and $289.7 million of capitalized interest), to help finance the construction of facilities for manufacturing lithium carbonate at Thacker Pass in Humboldt County, Nevada. The project is located next to a mine site that contains the largest confirmed lithium resource in North America. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to produce approximately 40,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate for use in lithium-ion batteries. Today’s announcement reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach to strengthening America's critical materials supply chain, which is essential to building America’s clean transportation future and enhancing our national and energy security. 

ECONOMIC IMPACT 

The project is expected to create approximately 1,800 jobs during construction and 360 jobs in operations, underscoring President Biden’s deep commitment to ensuring the historic transition to a clean energy future provides economic opportunity in communities across the country, including those that have too often been left behind. 

This project supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to expand and secure reliable, sustainable domestic supply chains for critical materials, which are key to reaching our ambitious clean energy and climate goals and reducing our reliance on economic competitors like China.

CLIMATE BENEFIT 

Lithium carbonate from Thacker Pass could support the production of batteries for up to 800,000 electric vehicles (EVs) annually, avoiding the consumption of 317 million gallons of gasoline per year.

Community BENEFIT 

As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to create new good-paying, high-quality jobs, the Thacker Pass project will benefit in part from union labor. The project’s engineering, procurement, and construction management contractor entered into a National Construction Agreement (Project Labor Agreement) with North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) for construction of the project. This will minimize construction risk, ensure the availability of skilled labor, address the challenges associated with the project’s remote location, and prioritize the employment of local and regional skilled craft workers, including Native Americans and residents of under-represented communities.

PROJECT STATISTICS: THACKER PASS  

 * Last Updated October 2024. Approximate amount of the loan approved at closing including principal and any capitalized interest. 

** Estimated at the time of closing