General Motors Just Locked In 20 Years of Lithium From the Largest Mine in America. The Site Sits on the Rim of an Extinct Supervolcano in Nevada. No Other U.S. Automaker Has a Deal Like It
Asian spot markets put battery-quality lithium carbonate at roughly $26,000 a ton in mid-May 2026, well above the late-2024 lows that sat near $13,500 but still a fraction of the late-2022 peak above $80,000. The McDermitt Caldera, a collapsed supervolcano straddling the Nevada-Oregon border, holds an estimated 20 to 40 million tons of the metal. Earth.com and several industry trackers have valued the deposit at about $1.5 trillion at the higher contract prices of recent years. At today’s spot, the math is somewhere closer to $500 billion to $1 trillion. Either way, it is the largest lithium deposit ever identified. The southern rim of that caldera runs into Humboldt County, Nevada, at a place called Thacker Pass. Lithium Americas Corporation has been building a mine there since March 2023. As of mid-May 2026, the site held roughly 1,300 workers. The U.S. Department of Energy has committed a $2.23 billion loan and, since October 2025, owns a direct 5 percent stake in the project. General Motors owns 38 percent through a joint venture and has locked in 100 percent of the first phase of production for 20 years.
General Motors Just Locked In 20 Years of Lithium From the Largest Mine in America. The Site Sits on the Rim of an Extinct Supervolcano in Nevada. No Other U.S. Automaker Has a Deal Like It. Asian spot markets put battery-quality lithium carbonate at roughly $26,000 a ton in mid-May 2026, well above the late-2024 lows that sat near $13,500 but still a fraction of the late-2022 peak above $80,000. The McDermitt Caldera, a collapsed supervolcano straddling the Nevada-Oregon border, holds an estimated 20 to 40 million tons of the metal. Earth.com and several industry trackers have valued the deposit at about $1.5 trillion at the higher contract prices of recent years. At today’s spot, the math is somewhere closer to $500 billion to $1 trillion. Either way, it is the largest lithium deposit ever identified. The southern rim of that caldera ru...