Washington, Mar 14 (EFE) - The United States Department of Energy granted a 2.26 billion dollars loan on Thursday to Lithium Nevada to develop the country's largest lithium deposit, a mineral used for electric vehicle batteries.

The loan is the largest the DOE's Loan Programs Office has ever made to a mining company and is part of a growing effort to bolster the domestic supply of critical minerals.

About 65% of lithium is currently processed in China, but Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday at a conference that US production is expected to increase 13-fold thanks to tax credits and other subsidies established in 2022.

Lithium Nevada, a subsidiary of Lithium Americas, plans to build a lithium carbonate processing plant next to the Thacker Pass mine, which contains the largest proven lithium reserves in the US and one of the richest in the world.

Lithium Americas is owned by General Motors, which in January 2023 announced a 650 million dollars investment in the company to develop the mine, the largest expenditure ever made by an automaker to obtain the raw material from which batteries are made.

GM has an exclusive purchase agreement for 100% of the lithium production from the mine for up to 15 years after production begins in 2027, according to the company.

The Thacker Pass plant will produce 40,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries, which are most popular in the automotive sector.

The US Department of Energy said in a statement that the loan is conditional, pending a review of the project for compliance with the nation's environmental laws.

Nevertheless, the Thacker Pass project has been questioned by environmental and indigenous advocates, who have challenged it in court, arguing that it poses a threat to the surrounding landscape and has not been adequately studied. EFE

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