Chile, together with Bolivia and Argentina, has the largest lithium reserves in the world. A great comparative advantage for this region in view of the strong demand that is projected for this key metal for the energy transition.. However, precisely these market prospects for lithium are driving mining exploration in different parts of the world, as well as research to find materials and technologies that can replace it.

One of the most important blows to South American supremacy has come from the United States, where a study was recently published which suggests that a lithium deposit located in the caldera of the McDermitt volcano, on the border between the states of Nevada and Oregon, could hold reserves of between 20 and 40 million tons of lithium metal, more than the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, so far considered the largest lithium deposit in the world.

The McDermitt volcano deposit is not just potential. Among the team involved in this new study are geologists from Lithium Americas, which is developing the Thacker Pass deposit at the southern end of the McDermitt volcano caldera.which is developing the Thacker Pass deposit at the southern end of the McDermitt volcano caldera. The Thacker Pass project contains estimated reserves of 3.7 million tons of lithium equivalent. The company plans to start production of the first phase of the mine in 2026, with 40,000 tons per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate in its first phase, which will be expanded to 80,000 tons per year in its second phase (for reference, SQM is investing US$1.4 billion to expand production to 210,000 tons per year of lithium carbonate by 2025).

Lithium Americas has, in addition to Thacker Pass, a 44.8% interest in the Cauchari-Olaroz project in Argentina, which started production in the middle of this year with a capacity of 40,000 tons per year of lithium carbonate, a 65% interest in the Sal de la Puna prospect and a 100% interest in Pastos Grandes, also in Argentina. In fact, Lithium Americas' shareholders approved the split of the company in two, grouping the Thacker Pass project in one company and the Argentine assets in another.