By james art 
The US government has approved the construction of a massive new lithium mine on public land in Nevada as part of a strategy to break China’s dominance of the supply chain for critical minerals used in electric cars. The mine will be a key supplier for Ford’s future electric vehicles.
This is the first time the Biden administration has signed a permit for a lithium mine in the US.
The US government has offered Australia-based producer Ioneer a $700 million loan to help build the project, which will quadruple US lithium production when it is completed in 2028. The mine, which is seen as vital to providing domestic source of the critical mineral, contains enough lithium to power approximately 370,000 EVs each year.
Ford is one of the first companies to pledge to source its lithium for EV batteries from the mine.
Conservationists and Ioneer fought for nearly six years to protect an endangered flower growing there, but the government is moving forward with the project, which will mine both lithium and boron. The project has reportedly undergone years-long environmental impact assessments to assess its effects on local ecosystems and water resources, with Ioneer exploring methods to minimize environmental impact, including water recycling and responsible mining techniques.
“This is a science-based decision,” Laura Daniel-Davies, acting under secretary of the Interior Department, told Reuters. “We’re trying to send a message that there’s no topic more important than dealing with climate change.”
The US Bureau of Land Management added that the deal includes “significant protections for local ecosystems.” In addition, the rural region, about 225 miles north of Las Vegas in Esmeralda Country, should create 500 jobs during construction and 350 “high-paying jobs over the decades of operation,” the company said.
Construction is slated to begin next year, with production starting by 2028. That schedule should also position Rhyolite Ridge as one of the largest lithium producers in the U.S. alongside Albemarle and Lithium Americas, Reuters reports. Customers that have already agreed to buy lithium from the mine include Ford and a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corps and Panasonic.
But conservationists say the project will almost certainly push the endangered Thiem’s buckwheat flower out of existence, with the Center for Biological Diversity planning to sue the federal government to block the project. The flower, which grows on limestone substrates and only in this part of the world, is protected by the Endangered Species Act.
However, according to Reuters, US officials say they believe the mine will not affect the flower and that Ioneer has been working to reconfigure the project to take the flower into account. The dispute flared back in 2020 when more than 17,000 flowers died near the mine site, prompting claims of a “premeditated” attack. Ioneer denied any wrongdoing, and the government said the squirrels were to blame.
Since 2002, only three U.S. mines have come online for critical minerals, it reported Financial Times. But U.S. lithium mining has become an increasingly pressing issue as the U.S. seeks to tap its own resources for future EV batteries and break China’s grip on supplies. For one thing, the US Geological Survey said it has discovered between 5 million and 19 million tons of lithium reserves lying beneath southwest Arkansas, enough to meet the projected 2030 global demand for lithium for EV batteries nine times over.
Read more:
A California lake has enough lithium to power 375 million electric cars
Arkansas could be sitting on 19 million tons of lithium
Photo: Courtesy of Ford/Mustang Mach-E
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