Lithium Americas Updates Thacker Pass Project 2026 Capex Guidance
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 3 hours ago
0mins
Lithium Americas (LAC) provided a project update for 2025, 2026 Capex guidance and 2026 project development milestones for its Thacker Pass project in Humboldt County, Nevada. Targets a Capex range of $1.3B-$1.6B for Thacker Pass Phase 1 for FY26. Continues to target mechanical completion of the Thacker Pass Phase 1 processing plant in late 2027. As of December 31, 2025, detailed engineering design complete achieved 93%, while procurement was 60% complete, and there were 950 personnel on site at Thacker Pass. The number of personnel is expected to increase to approximately 1,800 at peak construction in 2026. Early commissioning of the individual plants is expected to commence in Q4. Phase 1 is designed for nominal production capacity of 40K tons per year of battery-quality lithium carbonate. Thacker Pass hosts the largest known measured lithium resource and reserve in the world and is owned by a joint venture between Lithium Americas with a 62% interest, and General Motors (GM) with a 38% interest. Project financing for Phase 1 includes a $2.23B loan from the Department of Energy and strategic investments from GM and Orion Resource Partners LP. As of December 31, 2025, the Operations and Business Readiness team had 25 employees. Hiring additional OBR team members is expected to ramp up throughout 2026 in preparation for pre-commissioning and process commissioning in late 2026 and throughout 2027.
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Analyst Views on LAC
Wall Street analysts forecast LAC stock price to rise
8 Analyst Rating
1 Buy
6 Hold
1 Sell
Hold
Current: 4.540
Low
4.73
Averages
5.77
High
8.00
Current: 4.540
Low
4.73
Averages
5.77
High
8.00
About LAC
Lithium Americas Corp. is a Canada-based lithium company. The Company focused on developing, building, and operating lithium deposits and chemical processing facilities. The Company’s flagship asset is Thacker Pass, a sedimentary-based lithium deposit located in the McDermitt Caldera in Humboldt County, in northern Nevada. The Company is focused on developing the 100%-owned Thacker Pass lithium project in northern Nevada, the United States of America. Thacker Pass is approximately 100 kilometers (km) north-northwest of Winnemucca, Nevada, approximately 33 km west-northwest of Orovada, Nevada, and 33 km due south of the Oregon border. The Thacker Pass area encompasses approximately 7,900 hectares (ha) and lies within and is surrounded by public lands. The Company's subsidiaries are LAC Management LLC, Lithium Nevada Ventures LLC, KV Project LLC and others.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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