They sure did, and that's exactly the point. Thacker Pass is projected to require CAPEX of US$2.93 billion. Financing has been secured from various channels, comprising: US$650 million from GM in exchange for exclusive offtake rights for the initial 15 years, a US$2.26 billion loan from the US Department of Energy (as previously mentioned by you), and the cap raise this week (US$275m), totalling US$3.185 billion. So even with US$2.91b of external funding already sorted (which is over 95% of projected CAPEX), LAC still had to dilute their existing shareholders by 25%, and at a 25% discount to boot.
Now, returning to my original (but connected) point. It's highly improbable for a strategic partner to invest funds equivalent to 2-3 times the market cap of a company, which is the likely requirement for AGY. The US Government isn't inclined to extend such a loan to AGY; the loan for Thacker Pass was earmarked for a strategic asset. Similarly, the Argentinian Government isn't poised to provide funding (because they're broke), nor is the Australian government solely because AGY is an Australian company. That really only leaves a pre-paid offtake, which has never occurred at the scale required by AGY (240% of market cap), handing over part ownership to someone else (which is just shareholder dilution in disguise) or non-government debt (which again is unlikely to cover 240% of market cap).
The most viable option entails leveraging a blend of financing sources, akin to what LAC did, including a cap raise. In the case of AGY I'm anticipating substantial dilution and a significant discount due to the current state of the lithium market.
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