The Department of Defense announced today an $11.8 million award via the Defense Production Act Investment (DPAI) office to Lithium Nevada Corporation (Lithium Nevada), a subsidiary of Lithium Americas Corp. The award aims to accelerate the extraction and processing of lithium carbonate and directly supports the 2024 National Defense Industrial Strategy's objective to expand support for domestic production of critical minerals.
"It is critical that we shore up reliable and sustainable domestic supplies of strategic materials, like lithium carbonate, that are necessary for the production of large-capacity batteries," said Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. "This award helps do just that, facilitating the acceleration and expansion of Lithium Nevada's existing capabilities to meet growing demand."
Through the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III funds appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act, the award will enable Lithium Nevada to upgrade infrastructure at Thacker Pass, the company's lithium mine located in McDermitt Caldera, Humboldt County, Nevada. These upgrades will enable Lithium Nevada to test, demonstrate, accelerate, and scale up its lithium carbonate extraction process and produce commercial-scale levels of battery-grade lithium carbonate. The award will help to meet our Nation's growing requirements for large-capacity lithium batteries, which are critical components in many DoD systems.
This is the latest of 29 DPAI program awards issued since the beginning of fiscal year 2024, across multiple areas totaling $418 million. DPAI is overseen by the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) directorate, in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Resilience.
