Mining
Nevada Lithium Mine Secures Funding to Begin Construction
Pre-construction on the Thacker Pass lithium mine began last year.
Photo courtesy Bechtel
The final $250-million investment needed to proceed with construction of the nearly $3-billion Thacker Pass lithium project in northern Nevada has been acquired, according to project developer Lithium Americas.
The funding, provided by New York-based Orion Resource Partners, will pay for the first phase of developing what would be the largest lithium mine and processing facility in North America upon final completion. Last year, Vancouver, Canada-based Lithium Americas and General Motors announced a joint venture agreement to develop the project and providing a separate $192 million and $100 million in cash, respectively.
The project also received funding in October 2024 through a $2.26-billion loan from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) to assist in financing construction. The current investment announced on April 1 finalizes the requirements of the DOE loan, Lithium Americas said.
In its first phase, the Thacker Pass mine is projected to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-quality lithium carbonate annually—enough to power up to 800,000 electric vehicles.
“Thacker Pass will help enable a completely domestic supply chain for electric vehicle batteries, from mining to chemical processing to battery production,” said Ailie MacAdam, president of mining and metals business for Bechtel, the project's engineering, procurement and construction management contractor, in a press release. “Having a reliable domestic supply of lithium will be critical to America’s economic competitiveness and energy security."
Once construction of the initial phase is complete by late 2027, Thacker Pass is expected to single-handedly produce eight times the current total U.S. output of lithium carbonate, according to Lithium Americas. An anticipated second phase of the project is expected to produce an additional 40,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate annually and make the project the largest lithium mine in North America, the company claims.
Demand for lithium is expected to grow in the coming years since it is a critical component for electric vehicle batteries. And if EV manufacturers meet requirements on the percentage of components used that are produced and processed in the U.S., they can benefit from Inflation Reduction Act tax credits.
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The Thacker Pass project consists of an open pit mine and lithium processing operations in an area north of Winnemucca, Nevada in Humboldt County. Lithium Americas has a joint-venture ownership with automaker General Motors.
Bechtel, the construction manager, began pre-construction work on the project in November 2022. The company said early works such as procurement and engineering are complete, including the ordering of long lead equipment and site grading and excavation.
The Thacker Pass project began in earnest in 2018 but was stalled when environmental groups sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in 2021. The groups argued that the agency failed to properly address cumulative environmental impacts of the project in approving permits in the waning days of the first Trump administration.
There were also accusations that the agency did not adequately consult with Native American tribes in the area who held that the mine site is sacred grounds.
A federal appellate court in San Francisco in 2023 rejected those claims, saying the Land Management bureau’s final environmental impact statement was satisfactory under the law. The court also said the agency had adequately consulted with tribes, which “did “not raise any concerns about specific traditional areas, sacred sites or ceremonial areas or activities in the project area.”
