Posted on 01/31/2023 1:21:47 PM PST by Red Badger
Jan. 31 (UPI) -- General Motors announced Tuesday it will make a $650 million equity investment into Lithium Americas to develop the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada to produce material needed for its electric vehicles.
GM is touting the news as the largest-ever investment by a carmaker to produce domestic lithium to make EV batteries. Lithium Americas, which is based in Vancouver, Canada, said it believes there is enough lithium in the mine to produce batteries for 1 million EVs annually.
As the market for electric cars grows, so have supply chain worries for lithium, the critical raw material needed for the batteries. According to Mining.com, Australia, Chile and China are the leading countries in producing lithium.
"GM has secured all the battery material we need to build more than 1 million EVs annually in North America in 2025 and our future production will increasingly draw from domestic resources like the site in Nevada we're developing with Lithium Americas," GM Chairwoman and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement.
"Direct sourcing critical EV raw materials and components from suppliers in North America and free-trade-agreement countries help make our supply chain more secure, helps us manage cell costs, and creates jobs."
The Thacker Pass mine received a Record of Decision in January 2021 from the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, according to Lithium Americas. Construction is expected to start (BLM) and has all permits required to commence construction. Construction is expected to commence in 2023.
Thacker Pass is located about 60 miles northwest of Winnemucca, in Humboldt County in northern Nevada in an area that has the potential to expand.
"The agreement with GM is a major milestone in moving Thacker Pass toward production while setting a foundation for the separation of our U.S. and Argentine businesses," Lithium Americas President and CEO Jonathan Evans said in a statement.
"This relationship underscores our commitment to developing a sustainable domestic lithium supply chain for electric vehicles."
Interesting video.
There are millions of illegals that will suddenly be allowed to work, as long as they slave away in those mines. Things like federal laws prohibiting them from working will be ignored if not waived.
We have LOTSA Lithium and Cobalt too, it’s just a matter of political will to go and get it.
How do they melt the sulfur, wait, don’t tell me,let me guess. Fossil fuels. Am I right? What do I win?
Oil bad, Lithium good.
I’m thinking they’ve been assured that they’re too big to fail.
Biden: The ‘Great American Road Trip Is Going to Be Fully Electrified’ ... https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/01/30/biden-great-american-road-trip-going-fully-electrified/
If you’re confident that the next President is not going to change anything with regards to forcing these cars on the taxpayer, that they tax subsidies won’t end and consumers will be forced to buy them, then it could be a smart move.
I’m not so sure.
Their windmills are killing birds all over the place. The ones in the ocean are killing whales. And that place in the Cali desert, with the mirrors, that fries birds in mid-flight is humming along.
Just goes to show you that everything is for show and they don’t really care about anything.
Interesting. They can have these disastrous mines, but the oil guy, who can pinpoint a drill for a well and barely disturb environment around it, can’t do anything.
Not exactly. It’s a byproduct of oil and gas production.
https://www.sulfurrecovery.com/sulfur-recovery-process
What’s your evidence for open pit lithium mines being “disastrous”?
You know what....there is no evidence. EVs and the mining needed to make the batteries, all of which is done with fossil fueled vehicles do absolutely ZERO to the environment, just like the windmills don’t do anything. The solar farms don’t do anything. The waste from all of this is easily gotten rid of or recycled or repurposed.
Absolutely everything about EVs and renewable energy is just peachy. Everything.
I guess those giant pools are just absolutely perfect for fish and you and your family to take a vacation to.
https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/the-environmental-impact-of-lithium-batteries/ ... In Chile, the landscape is marred by mountains of discarded salt and canals filled with contaminated water with an unnatural blue hue. According to Guillermo Gonzalez, a lithium battery expert from the University of Chile, “This isn’t a green solution – it’s not a solution at all.”
Everything is just peachy, peachy, peachy.
The sold the uranium. To the Russians. To make bombs. To target us with. The Clintons also gave the ChiComs w88 warhead technology (MIRV), which they promptly used to target the USA with.
People can’t be forced to buy something that is W-A-Y out of their reach which will be a large percentage of the population. So where does that leave us? How many people think going into debt for $50,000-$80,000 to receive a $7500.00 tax credit is a good idea? Well, I guess the answer to that would be “dems” would as they pretty much lack common sense or what it means to be self sufficient so they’d be hitting up the taxpayer for the purchase price also and it would be granted!!! Economics is not their strong suit.
I agree with you to an extent. Folks are going to need to get to work. Public transportation isn’t getting everyone, everywhere.
As for the prices, some of the lower end cars aren’t that expensive.
So what is the cheapest Tesla you can buy new? Currently, that’s the Model 3, which has a base price of $44,990. Throw in a tax credit and you’re driving.
This is all about a small group of folks, forcing the masses to make sure they get their returns on their investments. No different than the AHA and the covid shots.
All of those lithium mines cited in your article are outside of the United States.
Apparently you want us to think that American mining technology and American environmental law produce the same result.
They don’t, which is why you failed to provide an example.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ..... yeah because the US is so great at everything.
What do big corporations, especially those with the government backing them do, when things go wrong? The pay fines and keep on doing their thing.
They’ll get involved. If this really is good for America, then they will step up to protest it and shut it down to save the double beaked western nutcatcher or whatever.
Lithium/rare earth mines in America should be American owned.
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