10:39 AM EDT, 10/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Lithium Americas ( LAC ) shares rose by more than 17% after the company said Wednesday that it has entered a new investment agreement with General Motors ( GM ) to form a joint venture for funding, developing, constructing and operating the Thacker Pass project in Nevada.

Lithium Americas ( LAC ) will manage the project and have a 62% interest in Thacker Pass by contributing $387 million of funding to the JV. GM will acquire a 38% ownership stake in the project for $625 million in cash and letters of credit.

The transaction will be incremental to GM's $320 million investment in February 2023 to acquire about 15 million common shares of Lithium Americas ( LAC ), the company said.

GM has also agreed to extend its existing offtake agreement for up to 100% of production volumes from phase 1 of Thacker Pass to 20 years.

The company said it is working with the US Department of Energy for a $2.3 billion loan which it expects to close in the coming weeks.

The companies plan to make a final investment decision for Thacker Pass by the end of the year.

Price: 3.12, Change: +0.45, Percent Change: +16.85