it’s early days for this project. The total area of the supposed...

it’s early days for this project. The total area of the supposed deposit is yet to be drilled to any degree of certainty - it appears that Lithium Americas will start with a smaller operation at Thacker Pass before determining if the larger deposit is a) there b) viable.

From what I’ve read, the Li is concentrated in the illite and smectite - these are concentrated in the south around Thacker. The presumption is that the illite/smec are not as prevalent in the greater caldera area.

Aside from the economics of an illite hosted Li deposit, the area is already a bit of a red tape hot bed. The native landholders have been prostrating against Thacker for several years and one can imagine that they will keep protesting if the Caldera deposit gets momentum. In addition, NASA have indicated that mining the caldera will cause issues with their satellites as the area is used to calibrate measurement.

it’s highly likely that several massive lithium discoveries will be made in the coming years as nearly every man and his dog is exploring for them. But as others have alluded to, the key is timing. Getting a project up and running in the US, Canada, Oz etc is not a quick or cheap process. The likelihood of these areas producing an operating mine that “competes” with LRS, in the short term, is highly unlikely. If all goes to plan, LRS can capitalise on strong Li prices (and low opex/capex) before Li inevitably drops as more mines come online in the next 5-10 years.