Lithium is a critical, strategic material that the Department of Defense is looking to secure. The Department of Defense awarded $11.8 million through its Defense Production Act Investment office to Lithium Nevada Corporation, a subsidiary of Lithium Americas Corp.
“It is critical that we shore up reliable and sustainable domestic supplies of strategic materials, like lithium carbonate, that are necessary for the production of large-capacity batteries,” said Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. “This award helps do just that, facilitating the acceleration and expansion of Lithium Nevada’s existing capabilities to meet growing demand.”
The award will go to help develop the Thacker Pass project, which will produce battery-quality lithium carbonate and is scheduled to run for at least 40 years.
“This grant from the DoD provides us with funds to support an upgrade of the local infrastructure and to help build a state-of-the-art transloading facility that will bring raw materials used to make battery-grade lithium carbonate at Thacker Pass,” said Jonathan Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We plan to use the DoD grant to both scale the transloading facility faster and to support improvements to local power transmission.”