Canada’s Lithium Americas began trading Wednesday on the Toronto and New York exchanges under its new ticker (LAC) as a result of the recent separation of its North American and Argentinean businesses into two independent public companies.
Shares in the Vancouver-based company soared during its first hours of trading and it was up more than 15% to $15.38 apiece at mid-morning in Toronto.
The new Lithium Americas is a pure-play lithium company focused on advancing to production its Thacker Pass project in Nevada.
Lithium Argentina (TSX: LAAC; NYSE: LAAC) will focus on the assets held in the South American country, including the Caucharí-Olaroz lithium brine project in Jujuy, which is progressing toward full commercial production, and the Pastos Grandes lithium brine project in Salta, which it added in December, through the acquisition of Arena Minerals.
The business separation allowed Lithium Americas to distance itself from one of its top shareholders, China’s Ganfeng Lithium, which in 2018 grabbed SQM’s (NYSE: SQM) stake in Caucharí-Olaroz and took control of the project in 2020.
“We look forward to seeing these two market-leading companies thrive independently,” Jonathan Evans, President and CEO of Lithium Americas said in a statement. “The separation offers investors two unique and highly focused pure-play lithium companies with world-class assets in our respective regions of operation.”
Analysts have said Lithium America’s decision to split the company came down to the delicate status of U.S.-China relations.
Besides a $650 million-investment the company secured from General Motors, Lithium Americas recently applied for funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, which has allocated millions of dollars to support battery-metals projects.
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