U.S. offers $700 million loan to EV battery material project

Ioneer

13/01/2023 14:16

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy
Department said Friday it has offered a conditional commitment
to lend up to $700 million to Ioneer  INR.AX  Rhyolite Ridge LLC
to mine lithium carbonate for electric vehicle batteries in
Nevada.
    The Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project could potentially
support production of lithium for approximately 370,000 EVs each
year and reduce annual gasoline consumption by nearly 145
million gallons, the department said. The Rhyolite Ridge project
has agreements to supply Ford Motor  F.N , Prime Planet Energy &
Solutions a Toyota Motor  7203.T  and Panasonic Corp  6752.T 
joint venture, and others.
 (Reporting by David Shepardson)
 ((David.Shepardson@thomsonreuters.com; 2028988324;))