Lithium Americas Corp. Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2011 Results

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 16, 2010) - Lithium Americas Corp. (TSX:LAC) ("Lithium Americas" or the "Company"), today reported its financial and operating results for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 ended May 31, 2010. Lithium Americas was incorporated in April 2009 and began trading as a public company in May of 2010. Therefore, there are no comparative results provided for the previous year. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

The Company completed an initial public offering on May 13, 2010 and raised net proceeds of $41,400,214 (gross proceeds of $45,000,140). Funds expended during the first quarter of fiscal 2011 were used primarily to prepare the primary assets, the Cauchari-Olaroz Lithium Properties (the "Properties") in Argentina, for exploration and commercial investment. For the three months ended May 31, 2010 the Company incurred a net loss of $1,772,503 and incurred $5,431,234 in exploration expenses on the Properties. At May 31, 2010 the Company had $44,467,326 in cash and cash equivalents and $42,083,452 in working capital.

Operational Highlights

Since filing its NI 43-101 compliant technical report in February 2010, Lithium Americas has made significant progress in the continued exploration and development of its Properties, including:

*Property Expansion – the Company acquired an additional 6,477 hectares ("ha"), increasing the land package associated with its principal property to 43,451 ha, and increasing its overall land package in Argentina to 125,704 ha.

*Completion of Seismic Survey on Company's Principal Property – the Company completed a 50 kilometre ("km"), high-resolution, 2D seismic tomography survey over its main property area located within the Cauchari salt lake on 12 lines oriented to reconstruct the salt lake basin and identify the brine bearing aquifers. The ability to apply seismic technology to the salt lakes, which was pioneered by the Company, has been highly beneficial in identifying the location of the lithium / potassium brine bearing regions and supported the identification of drill sites for the Company's current drill program. Interpretation of the seismic data demonstrates the existence of sandy porous layers in an area that is at least 4 km in width and 56 km in length, and with a depth in excess of 400 metres ("m").

*Positive Air Lift Extraction Test Results – the Company performed preliminary air lift tests in Reverse Circulation ("RC") holes and in Diamond Drill ("DDH") holes in order to prove that the aquifer can be pumped. Results, such as from RC hole 20, indicate that between 171m and 201m depth, the aquifer yielded 8.63 litres per second, and between 93m and 165m depth, the aquifer yielded 6.92 litres per second. These rates indicate that the aquifer is not only thick, but has high yields allowing for the extraction of brine from the aquifer.

*Discovery of Lithium Brine Outside of Previously Defined Inferred Resource Area – the Company drilled RC holes in locations that enabled the Company to obtain lithium / potassium brine results from an area that is approximately double the width (from 2 km to 4 km in width) of the original area used in calculating the inferred resource estimate. Additionally, the new RC holes achieved depths that were, on average, 40 percent greater than the holes used to calculate the inferred resource estimate.

*Discovery of Highest Lithium Brine Concentration Value to Date – results from RC hole 19 of 946 milligrams per litre lithium over a length of 17 metres represents the highest concentration of lithium in an aquifer discovered to date from the Company's exploration program.

Corporate Highlights

In addition to the completion of its IPO in May 2010, the Company achieved several key corporate milestones including:

*Magna International Inc., through a wholly-owned subsidiary ("Symatec") purchased 1,081,000 Common Shares in the Company's IPO. Symatec's ownership position in the Company is approximately 13.3 percent, making Symatec the Company's single largest shareholder. Symatec has negotiated an off-take arrangement with the Company whereby Symatec has an option to purchase up to 25 percent of the Company's lithium production which, if exercised, would require Symatec to provide certain financial support for the project.

*Mitsubishi Corporation ("Mitsubishi") purchased 1,049,084 Common Shares in the Company's IPO. Mitsubishi's ownership position in the Company is approximately 4.1 percent. Mitsubishi has also negotiated an off-take arrangement with the Company whereby Mitsubishi has an option to purchase up to 12.5 percent of the Company's lithium and potassium production which, if exercised, would require Mitsubishi to provide certain financial support for the project. Mitsubishi and the Company have also entered into a technical collaboration letter regarding brine study and a memorandum of understanding in regards to the co-development of the Company's lithium project.

*On June 14, 2010, the Company announced the appointment of Constantine Karayannopoulos to the Company's board of directors. Mr. Karayannopoulos is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Neo Material Technologies Inc, a TSX listed company and one of the world's largest producers, processors, and developers of neodymium iron boron magnetic powders, rare earths and zirconium based materials and applications. Mr. Karayannopoulos, a Professional Engineer, holds Bachelor and Master of Applied Science degrees in Chemical Engineering.

*On July 12, 2010, the Company appointed George Pirie to the Company's board of directors. Mr. Pirie is an accomplished mining executive with over 29 years of experience in exploration and production companies. He was previously the President and Chief Executive Officer of Breakwater Resources Ltd. and prior to that, he held a series of progressively more senior positions during a distinguished 20 year career at Placer Dome Inc., including Chief Financial Officer, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Placer Dome Canada, and Executive Vice President of Placer Dome Inc. Mr. Pirie has extensive board of director experience having served on a number of boards, including the Mining Association of Canada. Among other roles, he is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Northern Star Mining Corporation.

"The past few months have been very exciting for Lithium Americas," stated Waldo Perez, President and CEO of the Company. "In a very short period of time, we have advanced the exploration and development of our project, strengthened the Company both financially and internally, and attracted significant investors to assist us in the commercialization of the Cauchari-Olaroz Properties. We are very near the completion of the drilling phase of our exploration program, after which an updated resource estimate will be calculated. In addition, we are completing the construction of an on-site, pilot scale, evaporation processing facility which will be used to determine the brine's processing route. Given the milestones successfully achieved to date, and the significant investment we have made in understanding our lithium resource, we believe that Lithium Americas has one of the most advanced lithium exploration projects in South America."

About the Company

Lithium Americas Corp. is a junior exploration company focused on the exploration of lithium, potassium, borax and other minerals in South America. The Company's principal and most advanced property comprises a significant portion of two adjacent Argentinean salt lakes, Cauchari and Olaroz, covering 43,451 hectares located in the Puna Plateau. The Puna Plateau is the most prolific brine reserve region globally, hosting approximately 84 percent of the world's lithium brine reserves. Based on an NI 43-101 compliant inferred in situ resource estimate of 1.58 x 1012 litres with average grade of 584 mg/L lithium and 4,860 mg/L potassium (equivalent to 4.9 million tonnes of lithium carbonate and 7.7 million tonnes of potassium), Lithium Americas' principal property is one of the largest known lithium brine deposits in the world. The Company believes the Cauchari and Olaroz property has the potential of becoming a world-class lithium deposit in both size and quality.

John Kieley, P. Geo. is the internal Qualified Person on the project who has reviewed this news release and is responsible for the technical information reported herein.

Certain information contained in this news release is based on the Company's NI 43-101 compliant technical report titled "Amended Inferred Resource Estimation Of Lithium and Potassium at the Cauchari and Olaroz Salars, Jujuy Province, Argentina" dated February 15, 2010, prepared for Lithium Americas Corp. by Mark King, a "qualified person" pursuant to NI 43-101, which can be viewed on the Company's website or at www.sedar.com, under the Company's profile. Inferred resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or prefeasibility studies, except in rare cases. Investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred resource can be upgraded to an indicated or measured resource, or is economically mineable.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of statements that include words such as "could", "potential", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "likely", "will" or other similar words or phrases. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligations, to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Readers should review the Company's prospectus dated May 6, 2010 for a list of risks associated with the Company and its business.

For more information, please contact
Lithium Americas Corp.
Mike Cosic
VP Corporate Development
(416) 360-1921
mcosic@lithiumamericas.com
www.lithiumamericas.com