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Lithium Americas is a mining company that is trying to build large lithium mines in the United States and Canada to supply the battery industry.
Lithium Americas is a mining company, but not the kind that pulls shiny rocks out of the ground today. It owns the rights to huge deposits of lithium, the light metal that makes electric-car batteries work, and its whole business is the long, expensive, uncertain job of turning those deposits into actual working mines.
Its most important project is called Thacker Pass, in Nevada. Lithium Americas has the permits and the land, and it has a partner in General Motors, which put in real money and signed up to buy a chunk of the lithium once the mine is running. But here is the honest part: the mine has to be built first. That takes years, billions of dollars, and a lot of engineering, which is why Lithium Americas is not yet a company that sells much of anything. The company also has a project in Canada called Pastos Grandes (it picked this up by buying a smaller company), plus earlier-stage land in the same region. Its pitch is simple: most lithium today comes from Australia, Chile, and China, and carmakers in the US want a reliable local supply. Lithium Americas is trying to be that supplier, which is why Washington has shown interest in backing it.
In late 2007, a small company was set up in British Columbia under the name Western Lithium Canada Corporation. Its focus was lithium, the light metal that would soon become the heart of rechargeable batteries. Over time it spread its bets, adding projects in Argentina and Nevada, but the basic idea was simple: find and develop lithium in the Americas.
In 2016 the company changed its name to Lithium Americas Corp. It was more than a fresh coat of paint. The new name said plainly what the business was about and where it wanted to grow: lithium, in the Americas.
To build its big project in Argentina, called Cauchari-Olaroz, the company needed serious money. It brought in partners, including the Chinese lithium giant Ganfeng and the bank BCP, through a mix of share purchases and a large credit facility. That cash turned a plan on paper into a project that could actually be built.
In early 2018 the company's shares began trading on the NYSE. The move put the company in front of a much bigger pool of American investors and raised its profile in the U.S. markets.
By 2023 the business had two very different halves: Argentine projects and the Thacker Pass project in Nevada. In October of that year the company split itself into two independent public companies. Lithium Argentina kept the Argentine assets, while a new Lithium Americas held on to Thacker Pass and listed on the TSX and NYSE.
In late 2024 the company closed a loan of roughly $2.3 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy. The money was earmarked for building the first phase of processing facilities at Thacker Pass. It was a huge vote of confidence in a project that was still under construction.
Then something unusual happened. The Department of Energy took a small ownership stake in the company and a matching economic interest in the Thacker Pass joint venture, through warrants. The company also drew its first chunk of loan money, a few hundred million dollars. Government backing like that signaled that Thacker Pass mattered to the country, not just to its shareholders.
By the start of 2026, well over a billion dollars had gone into building Thacker Pass, and the detailed engineering was nearly finished. The company aimed to have the first phase mechanically complete in late 2027. If it gets there, Thacker Pass is set to become a major American source of battery-quality lithium carbonate.
The risky part is the timing. Lithium prices swing wildly, and a mine that looks brilliant when prices are high can look foolish when they crash. Lithium Americas is basically a bet that America will want its own lithium badly enough to make a brand-new mine worth building鈥攁nd that the company can raise the money to finish it before the opportunity slips away.
Saved answer 路 last researched 7 Nov 2026
General Motors owns 38% of the Nevada lithium project Lithium Americas is building
Thacker Pass is meant to produce up to 40,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate a year once its first phase is finished. General Motors holds 38% of the joint venture and already has a deal to buy that first phase's output, while the U.S. government holds the right to a 5% stake. Lithium Americas is pre-revenue, so drilling toward a 2027 completion is the whole business right now. Source: GlobeNewswire, data from 2026