A major $3.4 billion lithium mine has been approved in a Nevada town that was once a bustling gold mine hotspot.
Rhyolite Ridge – home to just 675 people – is one of the poorest places in the US but a new mine is forecast to power 370,000 electric vehicles per year.
The Rhyolite Ridge Project is predicted to bring more than 500 jobs and $125 million in yearly wages to the desolate area.
The mine is the only lithium-boron deposit in North America, allowing the US to not only produce batteries but use boron to make semiconductors.
The Biden Administration approved construction of the 7,000-acre mine to begin next year and production is set to begin in 2028.
‘Nevada’s mining sector is central to our economy, which is why I’ve been working across party lines to support it,’ Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), who’s running for Senate re-election, said in a statement.
‘This will help us grow Nevada’s national role in critical mineral production and create hundreds of good-paying jobs, while protecting critical landscapes and habitats.’
Rhyolite was once a major mining camp during the massive gold rush in 1904, bringing in 10,000 people but the mines closed just a few years later.
Construction of the mines in Rhyolite Ridge is expected to start next year and lithium production will begin in 2028
The US Department of Energy has approved a conditional loan of $700 million toward the Rhyolite Ridge Project that has the potential to produce a total of 192,218 tons of lithium over 23 years.
Ioneer Managing Director Bernard Rowe told the Nevada Current that the mine’s approval is ‘a milestone for the company,’ adding that Rhyolite Ridge ‘is a very special mineral deposit’ that will be critical to producing lithium in North America.
‘There’s not another one like it in the world,’ Rowe said. ‘There is not another mine anywhere in the world that produces both lithium and boron at any significant scale. So this is a one of a kind type deposit, and with it comes huge advantages.’
Boron is also a key compound in EV batteries that improves its lifespan, stability and results in faster charging capabilities.
Finding both in the same deposit at such high levels is critical to domestic lithium production.
Several carmakers, including Ford, Toyota and Panasonic, have already come to an agreement with Ioneer – the company backing the project – to obtain lithium from the mine.
Ioneer claimed the mine will bring in between $13 and $31.5 million in annual public revenue once the mine is fully operational and will provide enough lithium to supply a total of 50 million EVs over two decades.
Ford has already said it will purchase about 34 percent of the mine’s lithium within the first five years of operation.
‘This approval is not only an important win for Nevada but for the ongoing effort to ensure that made-in-America can mean mined-in-America,’ said Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.
The US currently accounts for only two percent of the global lithium, but federal officials are now attempting to boost domestic lithium production.
The mining area will cover 7,000 acres and produce 192,218 tons of lithium over the mine’s lifetime
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved Rhyolite Ridge permit on Thursday after determining that the mine would not drive the critically endangered Tiehm buckwheat wildflower to extinction amid environmental protests.
However, the approved permit says: ‘Exposure to hazardous materials, including petroleum from vehicles or equipment, runoff, and leached elements may result from the proposed project.’
The Center for Biological Diversity responded within an hour of the announcement by issuing a 60-day notice of its intent to sue the federal government under the Endangered Species Act.
‘By greenlighting this mine the Bureau of Land Management is abandoning its duty to protect endangered species like Tiehm’s buckwheat and it’s making a mockery of the Endangered Species Act,’ said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
‘We need lithium for the energy transition, but it can’t come with a price tag of extinction.’
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has likewise concluded that the mining project won’t impact the Tiehm buckwheat or its habitat and has protected roughly 719 acres as a critical habitat for the wildflower.
Environmentalists are concerned that the mine will cause a critically endangered wildflower to go extinct
Environmentalists have also expressed their concern over the mine’s water consumption, protesting that it could worsen the the ongoing drought in the region.
The amount of water used for lithium mining varies, but it can ranger from a few thousand to tens of thousands of acre-feet per year – one acre-foot of water is equivalent to 325,851 gallons.
Ioneer said it will use about 1.3 billion gallons of water, but has claimed half of that will be recycled.
The company said that the lithium carbonate particles are readily reachable, meaning it won’t need to mine deep into the earth’s surface to extract the metal.
After extraction, the raw lithium ore will be crushed to less than 20 millimeters and will be stacked into a series of leaching vats which are large containers made of wood or concrete.
Diluted sulfuric acid will be added to the vats to remove the lithium and boron and will then be cooled in a crystallizer before removing impure elements including aluminum and magnesium.
However, sulfuric acid can contaminate the soil and water, posing a health risk to humans and wildlife.
Sulfuric acid is highly corrosive and would burn plants, birds or animals that are exposed to it and cause respiratory irritation in humans including causing immediate burning in the mouth and throat, headache, nausea and vomiting.
Rowe argued that Ioneer has made significant concessions to protect the environment, including setting aside land to protect the Tiehm buckwheat, taking steps to conserve water and moving waste storage away from culturally sensitive sites.
‘The Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine project is essential to advancing the clean energy transition and powering the economy of the future,’ said Laura Daniel-Davis, acting deputy secretary for BLM.
‘This project and the process we have undertaken demonstrates that we can pursue responsible critical mineral development here in the United States, while protecting the health of our public lands and resources.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Ioneer for comment.
