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Ross Beaty to step down as Pan American Silver chairman in May
Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass property in northwestern Nevada. LITHIUM AMERICAS
C-SUITE NEWS
| Gillian Winckler appointed
to take the reins BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Lithium Americas raises US$400 million to advance Thacker Pass project in Nevada USA
| Project is host to largest known lithium resource in the country
BY DANIEL SEKULICH dsekulich@northernminer.com
V
ancouver-based junior Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC; NYSE: LAC) received final approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the company’s Thacker Pass lithium
mine project in northwestern Nevada on Jan. 15. Just days after the news of the BLM record of decision (ROD), Lithium Americas announced that it had raised US$400 million in a brokered private placement of more than 18 million shares at a price of US$22 per share. The net proceeds
will be used to develop Thacker Pass, as well as general corporate and working capital purposes. The project, located 100 km northwest of Winnemucca, in the state’s Humboldt County, is host to the largest known lithium resource in the United States, and Lithium Americas has been working the asset up for a decade. According to a pre-feasibility study filed in August 2018, the company foresees it as a two-phase, open-pit project, with production capacity that could reach 60,000 tonnes annually of battery-grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) over a 46-year mine life. Thacker Pass is 100% -owned by Lithium Americas. Measured and indicated resources at Thacker Pass total 385 million tonnes averaging 2,917 parts per million (ppm) lithium for 6 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Inferred resources are 147 million tonnes averaging 2,932 ppm for 2.3 million tonnes of LCE. The company plans to process the ore in a leaching circuit using sulphuric acid to liberate the lithium from the claystone. After the leaching process, the lithium bearing solution would be purified using crystallizers and reagents to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate. With the ROD from the BLM, the company is now focussed on its applications for key state permits and water rights transfers, with results expected later this year. As well, the company plans on starting construction by the end of 2021 or early next year. “It takes two years to build a projSee USA / 15
P
an American Silver (TSX: PAAS; NASDAQ: PAAS) founder Ross Beaty will step down in May as the company’s chairman and has appointed board member Gillian Winckler to replace him. Trained as a geologist, Beaty launched Pan American in 1984 and has served as its chairman since then. He was also CEO from the company’s inception until 2004. “I am so proud and grateful to have worked with our wonderful and dedicated team in building this great company,” he said in his announcement. “I would also like to thank our shareholders, who have supported my vision of creating a world-class silver mining company.” Pan American is now the secondlargest primary silver producer in the world, with the world’s largest silver resources and reserves, the company says. It also produces a significant amount of gold. Beaty noted in the announcement that the company “has never been in a better financial and operating condition, with many prospects for growth,” and said he has “full confidence in the company’s leadership team and its employees.” Winckler who will succeed Beaty as chair on May 12, has been on the company’s board of directors since 2016, and also chairs the human resources and compensation committee; is a member of the audit committee and the nominating and governance committee. She has worked in the mining sector for the last 25 years, 16 of which were with BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP) in London, England and Vancouver. At BHP she was involved with everything from corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions, to divestments, exploration and project evaluation and development. “Managed succession is part of good governance, and I’m very pleased Gill has agreed to take on the role of Chair,” Beaty said. “She is a highly experienced mining professional with a strong background in environmental, social and governance matters.” Beaty was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2018 and received The Order of Canada in 2017. The Northern Miner named Beaty
ODDS ‘N’ SODS: MEMORIES OF A GEOLOGIST’S FIRST JOB / 5
Ross Beaty speaking at The Northern Miner’s 2018 Canadian Mining Symposium in London. THE NORTHERN MINER
its Mining Person of the Year in 2011. Pan American Silver ended 2020 with no bank debt and cash and short-term investment balances of about $279 million. This year the company expects to produce between 19.43 million oz. and 20.55 million oz. of silver and between 3.07 million oz. and 3.45 million oz. of gold. In 2020 the company produced 17.3 million oz. of silver and 522,400 oz. of gold. TNM PM40069240