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March 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Energy has granted Lithium Americas a conditional commitment loan of $2.26 billion to finance the construction of processing facilities at its Thacker Pass project in Nevada, the company said on Thursday.
Once the loan is closed, the company expects to start major construction in the second half of this year at the project, which has the potential to be North America’s largest source of lithium for electric vehicle batteries.
The project is expected to start full-capacity production in 2028. It is targeting a production capacity of 80,000 tonnes per annum of battery-quality lithium carbonate.
Lithium Americas’ U.S.-listed shares rose 7.3% to $6.15 in premarket trading. (Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
