The Trump administration is seeking to acquire a 10% stake in Nevada’s upcoming lithium mine, operated by Lithium Americas (LAC).
Lithium Americas (LAC) has a flagship lithium mining project, Thacker Pass, located in Nevada.
With the Biden administration, the company had secured a $2.26 billion government loan to advance the project to production. However, since taking office, Trump has been attempting to claw back many loans related to the energy transition.
Last night, reports began to circulate about the Trump administration attempting to renegotiate the terms of the loans to include a 10% stake in the project.
It sent LAC’s stock surging by as much as 80% in after-hours trading.
The reports forced the company to issue a comment. Lithium Americas confirmed being “in discussions” with both the Department of Energy, which issued the loan, and General Motors, which holds a 38% stake in the company and a right to buy the lithium from the mine, about drawing from the loan:
The Company is in discussions with the DOE and General Motors Holdings LLC (“GM”), its joint venture partner in the Thacker Pass lithium project (“Thacker Pass” or the “Project”), regarding first draw on the DOE Loan. The topics of these discussions include certain conditions precedent to draw on the DOE Loan and associated loan specifics, as well as incremental requests from the DOE for potential further conditions to first draw and/or potential amendments to the DOE Loan and associated transaction documents, including corresponding consideration. The Company continues to work with the DOE and GM regarding proposals for a mutually agreeable resolution.
This would be the latest example of the Trump administration taking direct stakes in companies and using “national security” as the reason.
Electrek’s Take
The Biden administration was attempting to establish a North American battery supply chain, but Trump has significantly hindered that effort over the last few months.
However, this is a good move.
The loan would have likely worked as well, but direct ownership is essentially how China operates, and it has worked out quite well for them. There’s a word for this, but Trump’s base hates it.
My main issue with how Trump is doing these market-moving announcements and leaks looks a hell of a lot like insider trading.
Even with this move on LAC, there was suspicious short-term option trading on the stock leading up to this.
The US is in its era of grifters.
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