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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 .
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251020292440/en/
INVESTOR CONTACT
Virginia Morgan, VP, IR and ESG
+1-778-726-4070
ir@lithiumamericas.com
