The Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management gave final approval Thursday to the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron mining project in Nevada, a project that proponents hope will help meet the high demand of critical minerals used to make electric vehicle batteries and wrest market control from China.
The project, managed by Ioneer, will be developed in Esmeralda County, Nevada, and when completed, will be able to supply lithium to power about 370,000 electric vehicles annually, the agencies said. The project’s construction will employ up to 500 workers, and the mine will employ about 350 workers during operations.
“The Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine project is essential to advancing the clean energy transition and powering the economy of the future,” said DOI acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis.
Ioneer struggled to get permits because the project will take place in the habitat of the Tiehm’s buckwheat, an endangered wildflower protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
However, in the final Environmental Impact Statement, released in September, the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service created several initiatives to protect the endangered wildflowers, including redesigning and relocating project features, funding Tiehm’s buckwheat propagation work, and developing a formal Tiehm buckwheat protection plan.
“This decision is the result of the hard work and dedication of BLM staff and our partners, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to come up with approaches that protect the environment while supporting the Biden-Harris administration’s climate goals,” said Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning.
Critical minerals are essential for building clean technology, such as making EV batteries, grid storage batteries, and wind turbines. The Biden administration has made it a priority to spend funds to boost clean energy technology and has sought to remove supply chains for electric vehicles and batteries from China, which currently has a dominant position.
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“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,” Daniel-Davis added.
The mine will also produce other minerals, such as boron, which is used by the glass and ceramic industries. It can also be used as a component in abrasives, cleaning products, insecticides, insulation, for defense applications, and in the production of semiconductors.