Energy Department conditionally approves $2.26 billion loan for huge lithium mine in Nevada

The U.S. Energy Department has conditionally agreed to loan more than $2 billion to a company building a lithium mine in Nevada to help meet rising demand for a critical element in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, a key part of the Biden administration's renewable energy agenda.

The department agreed on Thursday to provide the $2.26 billion conditional loan to Canada-based Lithium Americas to help cover construction and related costs at an open pit mine deeper than the length of a football field near the Oregon line.

Department officials said the loan would help finance the construction of a lithium carbonate processing plant at the Thacker Pass mine about 200 miles (322 kilometers) north of Reno.

“The project is located next to a mine site that contains the largest-proven lithium reserves in North America,” DOE said in a statement.

The Energy Department said the loan is contingent on the loan program’s review of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act.

“Today’s announcement reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach to strengthening America’s critical materials supply chain, which is essential to building America’s clean transportation future and enhancing our national and energy security,” the department said Thursday.

President Joe Biden's renewable energy agenda aimed at easing U.S. reliance on fossil fuels so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is expected to be a key issue in his reelection bid against ex-President Donald Trump, who has said he would focus on drilling for more oil.

Lithium Americas said the loan would cover the vast majority of the first phase of the Thacker Pass project, which is now estimated to cost $2.93 billion. Last January,