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General Motors (GM) is increasing its investment in a Nevada lithium mine and its operator to almost $1 billion as it looks to secure a long-term supply of a critical mineral for electric vehicle batteries.
The Detroit automaker said it would contribute $625 million to a new joint venture with Canadian firm Lithium Americas (LAC). This deal, which follows a $320 million investment in February 2023, consists of $430 million in cash and $195 million letter of credit facility. In total, GM has invested about $945 million in the project and the company.
The joint venture marks the largest ever publicly announced investment by a U.S. automaker in a lithium carbonate project, according to the companies. Lithium Americas has been given a $2.3 billion loan by the U.S. government to develop the mine.
In return, GM will receive the entirety of the materials produced by the first phase of the Thacker Pass project in Humboldt County, Nevada. Lithium Americas said in March it plans to produce 40,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate in that phase. That’s enough to make 1 million lithium iron phosphate batteries, or 571,428 ternary lithium batteries, based on the higher end of lithium consumption estimates each year.
GM has also agreed to enter into another 20-year offtake agreement for up to 38% of the project’s second phase of production. In this phase, Lithium Americas aims to produce 80,000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate.
“Our relationship with GM has been significantly strengthened with this joint venture as we continue to pursue a mutual goal to develop a robust domestic lithium supply chain by advancing the development of Thacker Pass,” Lithium Americas CEO Jonathan Evans said in a statement. “We will be working closely with GM to advance towards the final investment decision, which we are targeting by the end of the year.”
The new investment comes as GM looks to ramp up its EV plans, which has included largely retiring the “Ultium” branding and building a new battery cell research lab at its technology campus in Warren, Michigan. Earlier this year, GM said it would team up with Samsung to build a $3.5 billion battery cell manufacturing plant in Indiana.
GM’s next-generation batteries are projected to cut costs by about $6,000 per EV, Kurt Kelty, the executive overseeing battery development, said at an event earlier this month, which should help it boost sales. CEO Mary Barra has said the company is on pace to produce around 200,000 EVs in North America this year, with profitability on a production basis this quarter.
