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Lithium Americas skyrockets as Trump administration reportedly seeks equity stake $LAC
Sep. 23, 2025
Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) +87.9% post-market Tuesday following a Reuters report that the Trump administration is seeking an equity stake of as much as 10% in the company as it renegotiates terms of the company's $2.3 billion Department of Energy loan for its Thacker Pass lithium project.
The ~$3 billion Thacker Pass project was approved by Trump at the end of his first term, and the loan from the DoE's Loan Programs Office was closed last year by the Biden administration.
Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) was scheduled to make its first draw on the loan earlier this month but Trump officials sought to renegotiate terms following concerns about the company's ability to repay the loan given low lithium prices, according to the report.
General Motors (NYSE:GM), which invested $625 million in the mine last year for a 38% stake, has the right to buy all the lithium from the Thacker Pass project's phase 1 and part from phase 2 for 20 years, although Trump officials are now seeking a guarantee that GM will buy the metal, the Reuters report said.
GM (NYSE:GM), which is relying on Thacker Pass to supply much of its lithium needs for its electrification push, has called the DoE loan a "necessary part of the financing to commercialize this important national resource."