Canadian mining company Lithium Americas has announced the start of construction at its fully-owned Thacker Pass lithium project in Humboldt County, Nevada, US.
The commencement of construction follows the receipt of notice to proceed with the lithium project from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
It also comes after the positive ruling secured by Lithium Americas last month from the US District Court, District of Nevada regarding the issuance of the record of decision (ROD) for the project.
The court declined an appeal to vacate the ROD for the mining plan of operations.
Lithium Americas stated that the construction activities including geotechnical drilling, site preparation, development of the water pipeline, and associated infrastructure have been started at the project.
Major earthworks contracts have been awarded and the activities are anticipated to begin in the second half of this year, said the mining company.
Bechtel was given the engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) contract for the project’s phase 1 and detailed engineering is going on.
The project is expected to have a production capacity of 80,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of battery-quality lithium carbonate in two phases of 40,000tpa, respectively.
Phase 1 production at the Thacker Pass project is slated to begin in the second half of 2026.
The Thacker Pass lithium project is anticipated to generate 1,000 jobs during construction and 500 jobs during operations.
Lithium Americas president and CEO Jonathan Evans said: “Starting construction is a momentous milestone for Thacker Pass and one we have been working towards for over a decade.
“We are excited about the prospect of generating economic growth in Northern Nevada and playing a major role in the domestic lithium supply chain for electric vehicles.”
