Trump wants stake of company in charge of largest lithium mine

THE TRUMP administration is seeking an equity stake of as much as 10% in Lithium Americas as it renegotiates terms of the company’s $2.26-billion Energy department loan for its Thacker Pass lithium project with General Motors (GM), two people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

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The proposed stake is the latest example of the Trump administration intervening directly in the American economy as it has in taking stakes in Intel, MP Materials and other US tech and minerals firms to promote industries it sees as critical to national security.

Slated to become the Western Hemisphere’s largest source of lithium when it opens in 2028, the Thacker Pass mine has been under construction for nearly a year with more than 600 contractors at the site roughly 25 miles (40 km) south of Nevada’s border with Oregon.

Thacker Pass is seen as alinch-pin in building a domestic supply chain part of Washington’s longstanding drive to boost US production of lithium, a metal used to make batteries for electric vehicles and other electronics.

“President Trump supports this project. He wants it to succeed and also be fair to taxpayers,” a White House official told Reuters, “But there’s no such thing as free money.”

The project has long been touted by both Republicans and Democrats as a key way to boost US critical minerals production and cut reliance on China, the world’s largest lithium processor.

The US produces less than 5,000 metric tons of lithium at a Nevada facility owned by Albemarle. Thacker Pass’s first phase is expected to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year, enough for up to 800,000 electric vehicles (EVs).