Jigar Shah

And so while the private sector is essential to this, and then the loan programs office, you know, receives a loan application and then actually just provides a loan right after, you know, a lot of due diligence, etc., The ingredients for Americans thinking that we could do big things again was a team effort.

And so while the private sector is essential to this, and then the loan programs office, you know, receives a loan application and then actually just provides a loan right after, you know, a lot of due diligence, etc., The ingredients for Americans thinking that we could do big things again was a team effort.

And you see that in states around the country who are now competing ferociously to attract these projects to their states, right? And it's not an economic development story in terms of like who's giving you the biggest package. It's how do we get trained workers? How do we make sure that the infrastructure is there?

And you see that in states around the country who are now competing ferociously to attract these projects to their states, right? And it's not an economic development story in terms of like who's giving you the biggest package. It's how do we get trained workers? How do we make sure that the infrastructure is there?

How do we build up new electricity, transmission lines and new facilities to be able to accommodate all this load growth, right? You know, so that is something that's more of an art than a science, right? Which politicians are better at than I am.

How do we build up new electricity, transmission lines and new facilities to be able to accommodate all this load growth, right? You know, so that is something that's more of an art than a science, right? Which politicians are better at than I am.

But today I'm getting people calling me saying like, Jigar, I would have never in a million years thought that we could do big things in this country, but I think we can.

But today I'm getting people calling me saying like, Jigar, I would have never in a million years thought that we could do big things in this country, but I think we can.

So if we look at Thacker Pass, which is a big lithium production facility in Nevada, they had to go through permitting. They had to go through NEPA. We made their process as smooth as we could. And frankly, my team did an extraordinary job there. But the big thing is that, remember, when we came into office, lithium was very high priced because there was a shortage.

So if we look at Thacker Pass, which is a big lithium production facility in Nevada, they had to go through permitting. They had to go through NEPA. We made their process as smooth as we could. And frankly, my team did an extraordinary job there. But the big thing is that, remember, when we came into office, lithium was very high priced because there was a shortage.

But there's no shortage of lithium in the world. It was just the processing facilities were short. Since the market's been flooded with lithium, lithium prices have come down. And so the private sector does not want to fund a lithium production facility because lithium has very volatile pricing.

But there's no shortage of lithium in the world. It was just the processing facilities were short. Since the market's been flooded with lithium, lithium prices have come down. And so the private sector does not want to fund a lithium production facility because lithium has very volatile pricing.

And so they're saying, not only do we not trust the technology because Thacker Pass is using next generation novel technology that is far more environmentally friendly than what they do domestically. in China, but we also don't like this volatility. So there was no place for them to go to get debt.

And so they're saying, not only do we not trust the technology because Thacker Pass is using next generation novel technology that is far more environmentally friendly than what they do domestically. in China, but we also don't like this volatility. So there was no place for them to go to get debt.

But when you talk to the big mining companies, they were like, well, we don't want to buy these guys. We don't want to use next generation technology. We want to use technology that's already been used for 10 years in the field.

But when you talk to the big mining companies, they were like, well, we don't want to buy these guys. We don't want to use next generation technology. We want to use technology that's already been used for 10 years in the field.

And so the loan programs office was the only place where we could actually look at the forward price curve for lithium and look at supply and demand and figure out where is this going to go from, you know, we had third party providers that helped us with this. And how likely is this technology to work? Oh, very likely because we've actually been piloting it for over 10 years.

And so the loan programs office was the only place where we could actually look at the forward price curve for lithium and look at supply and demand and figure out where is this going to go from, you know, we had third party providers that helped us with this. And how likely is this technology to work? Oh, very likely because we've actually been piloting it for over 10 years.

Okay, fantastic, right? And so the only place for them to get a fair hearing was going to be the loan programs office.

Okay, fantastic, right? And so the only place for them to get a fair hearing was going to be the loan programs office.