The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for TSX- and NYSE-listed Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass lithium project, in the US, is available for public comment.
The release of the draft EIS marks another step in advancing the Thacker Pass project towards production, says CEO and president Jon Evans.
He adds that Thacker Pass “has the potential to produce environmentally responsible and high-quality lithium products for the growing electric vehicle market”, based on being a high-grade known sedimentary lithium resource in the US.
Thacker Pass is expected to provide employment to about 1 000 workers and once in operation, to about 300 permanent workers, with training and skills development programmes aimed at maximizing local employment in northern Nevada.
Further, the company continues to advance work on the project’s definitive feasibility study (DFS), the completion of which is proceeding in parallel with the permitting process and sets out the design and layout of the project.
The company expects to release results of the DFS in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Lithium Americas plans to develop the Nevada mine, which will extract lithium from a clay deposit, in two phases over about 40 years.