Kate: 

"I had always assumed LAC would remain an independent Li company.

As we wait for DFS ...wondering what this means for partners.  Would they be bought out or merge or remain independent??

Thoughts????"

__________________________________________________________________________

I had a "great" ( in my own mind ) reply but then I attempted to add some quote and wound up inadvertently deleting the whole thing.  Well, that did not set well.  

I found an article that looks like it was written after Jon Evans became CEO in May, 2019 that I hope has some bearing on "Indpendence vs Acquisition/Merger"... but I may be stretching it.  I did a lot of searching for quotes by Jon Evans and truthfully I did no find much.

"The relative newness of the lithium market, combined with the nuances in pricing and supply chains, presents talent-pipeline challenges for leaders. “Organizations need strategies to ensure a robust supply of lithium at the right price, and there’s a finite universe of people with the skills and knowledge who can do that,” says Korn Ferry’s Steinberg."

An aside:  What is Korn Ferry Institute?  Here is one description:  The Korn/Ferry Institute generates forward-thinking research and viewpoints that illuminate how talent advances business strategy. Since its founding in 2008, the institute has published scores of articles, studies, and books that explore global best practices in organizational leadership and human capital development. About Korn Ferry Korn Ferry is a premier global provider of talent.

“Competing in electric vehicles will require creative strategies as pertains to strategic sourcing and supplier relationships,” says Steinberg. That means forming joint ventures, profit sharing, and co-owning ventures

So where is Jon Evans in this article?...

Known as Thacker Pass, the mine is budgeted at more than $500 million, and upon its completion in 2023 it is expected to produce just less than 44.1 million pounds of lithium hydroxide annually. “The time required to line up the financing and build a mine and chemical plant takes years,” says Jon Evans, president and CEO of Lithium Americas, the Vancouver, Canada–based company that is building Thacker Pass.

Two factors working in favor of lithium companies when it comes to recruiting younger talent to the industry are its growth prospects and sustainability features. Lithium mining is less damaging to the environment than other forms of mining, for instance. “Lithium mining and chemical purification is poised to take over the smokestack part of the economy,” says Lithium Americas’ Evans.

Elsewhere Evans has been quoted as saying that LAC isn't so much a mining company as it is a chemical company.. as in his statement above re: "chemical purification".  So that's what Thacker Pass is going to do, eh?  "Chemical purification".  Well, whatever they call it I hope that early 2023, the scheduled date for production ( at least that is the schedule today) does coincide with the actual start of production at Thacker Pass.

Kate, I am only guessing but my guess is that Jon Evans wants to take advantage of this move by OEMs to vertically integrate to play one off against the other for LAC's affections.  I don't think he wants LAC to be merged or acquired.  My guess is his vote is to remain independent and have the OEMs come to him.  IF everything depended on only one OEM, Tesla for example, then Evans wouldn't be able to play Tesla against anyone else because there would be no one else... but that isn't the case as more and more auto manufacturers, domestic and foreign based, transition over to total commitment to EVs or, at least, a major portion of their output being committed to EV production.  I think Evans is going to love every minute of his dance with the auto company execs.  JMO

https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/pdfs/briefings42_feature_lithiumshortage.pdf

Thacker Pass... now you know... it will be part of "the smokestack part of the economy"!  Question remains, though:  Who will own the smokestack when the first smoke comes out of the chimney?