Lithium Americas Receives First Drawdown of $435 Million from U.S. DOE ATVM Loan
Lithium Americas Receives First Drawdown of $435 Million from U.S. DOE
ATVM Loan
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 20, 2025--Lithium Americas
Corp. (TSX: LAC) (NYSE: LAC) (“Lithium Americas” or the “Company”) announced today
that the Company has received its first drawdown of $435 million from its $2.23 billion
guaranteed loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) Loan Programs Office (“LPO”)
under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (“ATVM”) Loan Program (the “DOE
Loan”) to finance the construction of the processing facilities at Thacker Pass, located in
Humboldt County, Nevada (“Thacker Pass” or the “Project”).
Jonathan Evans, President and CEO of Lithium Americas said, “We are excited that Thacker
Pass is progressing rapidly. Construction of the processing facilities is underway and our
expanding skilled workforce is already living in the housing facility we proudly built in
Winnemucca. Together, we are forging a path toward building a U.S.-domestic lithium supply
chain, and we are honored to have the DOE as a partner on this journey.”
DOE LOAN STRUCTURE
The $2.23 billion DOE Loan includes principal of $1.97 billion and estimated capitalized interest
during construction of $256 million. The interest rate that will be applied to amounts drawn
under the DOE Loan is the applicable long-dated U.S. Treasury rate on the date of each draw
with 0% spread. The DOE Loan tenor is approximately 23 years from date of first draw.
Scheduled repayments of principal and interest are expected to commence in January 2029. The
Company may prepay the DOE Loan at any time, subject to certain conditions, by paying
principal plus accrued interest on outstanding advances.
The Company has the ability to draw on the DOE Loan as frequently as monthly, as needed,
subject to satisfaction the customary conditions for this type of construction loan included in the
DOE Loan documentation. There are no financial model bringdown requirements for subsequent
draws.
ABOUT LITHIUM AMERICAS
Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass project located in Humboldt County in
northern Nevada, which hosts the largest known measured lithium resource (Measured and
Indicated) and reserve (Proven and Probable) in the world. Thacker Pass is owned by a joint
venture between Lithium Americas (holding a 62% interest and is the manager of the Project),
and General Motors Holdings LLC (holding a 38% interest). The Company is focused on
advancing Phase 1 of Thacker Pass toward production, targeting nominal design capacity of
40,000 tonnes per year of battery-quality lithium carbonate. The Company and its engineering,
procurement and construction management contractor, Bechtel, entered into a National
Construction Agreement (Project Labor Agreement) with North America’s Building Trades
Unions for construction of Thacker Pass. Lithium Americas’ shares are listed on the Toronto
Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LAC. To learn more, visit
www.lithiumamericas.com or follow @LithiumAmericas on social media.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and “forward-looking information” within the
meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively referred to as “forward-
looking statements” or “FLS”). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are FLS
and can be identified by the use of statements that include, but are not limited to, words, such as
“anticipate,” “plan,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “project,” “predict,”
“proposes,” “potential,” “target,” “implement,” “schedule,” “forecast,” “intend,” “would,”
“could,” “might,” “should,” “believe” and similar terminology, or statements that certain actions,
events or results “may,” “could,” “would,” “might” or “will be taken, occur or be achieved. FLS
in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements related to Thacker Pass, including
the Company’s focus on advancing Phase 1 toward production, expected job creation and the
other anticipated benefits of Thacker Pass for U.S. national security, workers, companies and
communities, and statements related to the DOE Loan, including statements with respect to
management’s beliefs, plans, estimates and intentions, and similar statements concerning
anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not
historical facts.
FLS involves known and unknown risks, assumptions and other factors that may cause actual
results or performance to differ materially. FLS reflects the Company’s current views about
future events, and while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news
release, is inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Accordingly, there
can be no certainty that FLS will accurately reflect actual results. Assumptions upon which such
FLS is based include, without limitation: relationships between the Company and third party
strategic and contractual partners; development, construction and operations at Thacker Pass
proceeding as anticipated; the Company’s ability to operate in a safe and effective manner; the
Company’s financial resources and future prospects; general business and economic conditions;
settlement of agreements related to the operation and sale of mineral production and the
operations and inputs required in the course of production; the benefits and impacts of Thacker
Pass; unforeseen technological, engineering and operational problems; accuracy of development
budgets and construction estimates; uncertainties inherent to feasibility studies and mineral
resource and mineral reserve estimates; reliability of technical data; the receipt and maintenance
of mining, exploration, environmental and other permits or approvals; government regulation
and policy and changes thereto, including in respect of the mining industry, the green energy
transition, the electric vehicle market, royalty rates and tax rates; demand for lithium;
competition in the lithium business, and the Company’s competitive position in the industry;
changes to costs of production; support of key stakeholders; availability of technology, including
low carbon energy sources and water rights, on acceptable terms; the impact of unknown
financial contingencies, including litigation costs, title disputes or claims, environmental
compliance costs and costs associated with the impacts of climate change or severe weather
conditions; estimates regarding commodity prices, currency exchange rates, interest rates,
inflation rates and competitive conditions. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of risks,
assumptions and other factors is not exhaustive. Although the Company believes that the
assumptions and expectations reflected in such FLS are reasonable, the Company can give no
assurance that these assumptions and expectations will prove to be correct. As such, readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on this information.
The FLS contained in this news release is expressly qualified by these cautionary statements. All
FLS in this news release speaks as of the date hereof. The Company does not undertake any
obligation to update or revise any FLS, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise, except as required by law. Additional information about these assumptions and risks
and uncertainties is contained in the Company’s filings with securities regulators, including the
Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company’s
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and the Company’s
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2025, which are available
on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.
Contacts
INVESTOR CONTACT
Virginia Morgan, VP, IR and ESG
+1-778-726-4070