The Trump administration will take an equity stake in a massive lithium mine under development in Nevada and its Canadian parent company, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday.
The federal government agreed to take a 5 percent stake in mining company Lithium Americas and its Thacker Pass project, a joint venture with General Motors, Wright confirmed. The deal includes an “exit strategy” for the government to sell its stake once the mine comes online, he said.
“We’ll own at the mine itself and in the corporate entity that is the developer of the mine,” Wright said on Bloomberg Television. “This is just economic common sense.”
The deal bolsters a federal loan of up to $2.3 billion, initially offered under the Biden administration, to support a processing facility located next to the lithium mine. The Thacker Pass mine originally received permit approval during the final days of the first Trump administration.
