U.S. government takes stake in Canadian lithium miner and its Nevada mining project
The U.S. Department of Energy has taken equity stakes in Canadian company Lithium Americas and its Nevada mining joint venture with General Motors as part of a renegotiation of a federal loan.
Under the new terms, the U.S. government will take a 5% equity ownership in Lithium Americas and a 5% ownership in the Lithium Americas-GM joint venture. The equity stakes will be acquired through no-cost warrants, which are financial instruments that give the government the right to purchase shares at a set price. The new terms came out of a renegotiation with the DOE’s Loan Programs Office over a $2.26 billion loan that was awarded to Lithium Americas under the Biden Administration.
Shares of Lithium Americas spiked 34% in after-hours trading.
The DOE said the equity stakes will serve as additional collateral on the loan, helping to reduce repayment risk for taxpayers. Lithium is a key chemical element that is used in the batteries of electric vehicles and smartphones.
“Despite having some of the largest deposits, the United States produces less than 1% percent of the global supply of lithium. Thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, American lithium production is going to skyrocket,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a press release. “Today’s announcement helps reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals by strengthening domestic supply chains and ensures better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars. President Trump promised to do both and he is delivering.”
The announcement Tuesday is the latest action by the Trump administration to take ownership stakes in companies. The Trump administration has announced plans to take a 10% stake in Intel and MP Materials, which operates a rare earth minerals mine in the United States.
Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada, which is expected to produce enough lithium to make as many as 800,000 electric vehicles per year in the first phase. President Trump approved the permit for the project in January 2021, at the end of his first term.
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GM bought a 38% stake in Lithium Americas last year for $625 million, which gave the automaker the right to buy the entirety of the first phase of production, and lithium from the mine for 20 years during the second phase. In total, that would be enough lithium for 1.6 million EVs over the next two decades.
Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
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