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To: Sun Tzu who wrote (8229)	3/14/2024 10:09:33 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 10768

Jonathan Evans, chief executive of Lithium Americas, said the project delays likely mean higher prices for lithium as EV adoption picks up. "We're setting ourselves up for more volatility in the future because people pull back very quickly," he said. Lithium Americas expects its Thacker Pass mine to initially produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-quality lithium annually, enough for as many as 800,000 EVs a year, the Energy Department said. Production is expected to start in 2027 and eventually increase to 80,000 tons a year. The company's stock was up more than 30% in morning trading after The Wall Street Journal first reported the loan. The infusion of federal funding into the EV industry is intended to help break the country's reliance on China, which dominates global production of battery minerals. In 2023, a Ford Motor joint venture won a record $9.2 billion loan commitment for battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. Led by former clean-energy entrepreneur Jigar Shah, the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office has become a key engine of the administration's clean-energy transition. The office finances businesses that are unable to borrow from traditional lenders, often because their technology is seen as too risky or because the terms are too onerous. Loans from the office are linked to interest rates on Treasury bonds and are generally cheaper than loans they could get from a bank. Founded in 2005, the office funded Tesla in its early days but was criticized after a solar-panel maker it backed called Solyndra went bankrupt in 2011. The office was largely dormant following the Solyndra bankruptcy until Shah took over in 2021. Then in 2022, climate-related provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act gave Shah's office a windfall, multiplying its lending capacity 10-fold. The law also said a $7,500 tax credit for people who buy EVs can't go toward buying cars with battery parts from a "foreign entity of concern, " which includes China. Automakers have been scrambling to retool their EV supply chains ever since. In 2023, General Motors agreed to invest $650 million in the Thacker Pass project. The deal gives the auto company exclusive rights to lithium extracted from the mine for up to 15 years. Other lithium-mining companies are also moving forward, including several working on projects at California's Salton Sea. In Utah, a startup plans to build a project to suck up water from the Great Salt Lake to extract lithium. Another lithium miner, Ioneer, received a conditional commitment in January 2023 for up to $700 million from the Energy Department to develop a project in Nevada. Lithium Americas expects the loan, which it said should close in the coming months, to cover the majority of the project's $2.93 billion total cost. Construction will create about 1,800 jobs, the company said. It has to meet certain conditions before receiving the funds. "This is a major investment in EVs here in the U.S.," said Chris Creed, chief investment officer of the Loan Programs Office, adding that it will "reduce our reliance on foreign sources." Environmentalists and local Native American activists have for years tried to block the project, saying it would consume too much water and spoil the land. In 2023, a U.S. District Court in Nevada declined to vacate the federal decision to approve the project. That cleared the way for Lithium Americas, which expects to start construction on the processing plant this summer. Write to Scott Patterson at scott.patterson@wsj.com ========== So in conclusion, a company with a $1B market cap is getting a $2.6B loan from the government. What should LAC market cap grow into?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (8229)	3/15/2024 11:58:39 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10768

Lithium Americas Up 5.2% Premarket as the US Commits to a Big Loan for the Thacker Pass Project; 2023 Loss Narrows Mar 15, 202408:24 EDT LAC+8.35% Lithium Americas LAC was last seen up 5.2% in premarket New York trading after the company on Friday said its annual loss narrowed, while it won a commitment for a US$2.26 billion loan from the US government, giving it the funds to complete it Thacker Pass mining project in Nevada even as costs rise. The company said it lost US$3.9 million, or US$0.02 per share, last year, compared with a loss of US$67.8 million, or US$0.42, in 2022. Expenses dropped 55% to US$27.6 million from US$60.9 million. It reported no revenue after spinning out its producing assets in Argentina last year into a separate company. Still, the company ended the year with US$195.5 million of cash on hand, up from US$0.6 million at the end of 2022. It furthered its cash position this week, receiving conditional commitment for a US$2.26-billion loan from the US Department of Energy to finance processing facilities for the Thacker Pass project. "We are encouraged by the size of the DOE loan package, which is expected to cover roughly 75% of the estimated CAPEX for Phase 1," B. Riley Securities said in a note. Still, the company said construction costs for the project, scheduled for completion in 2027, are on the rise, raising its capital spending estimate for the lithium mine to US$2.93 billion, an increase of US$662 million from its initial estimate, according to B.Riley Financial. The company said the higher price tag comes on "updated quantities and execution planning tied to increased engineering progress, use of union labor through a PLA for construction of Thacker Pass, development of an all-inclusive housing facility for construction workers, updated equipment pricing and a larger project contingency". It noted the costs are expected to be covered by the US loan and an earlier investment from General Motors (GM). Lithium Americas shares were last seen up US$0.31 to US$6.30 in premarket trading. They closed up C$0.43 to US$8.13 Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.