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Nevada Mining

Nevada has the most abandoned mines in the nation. Why is it taking so long to seal them? – by Amy Alonzo (Nevada Independent – January 4, 2024)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/

The state needs hundreds of millions of dollars to seal roughly 50,000 hazardous, abandoned mines. At current funding levels, it will take another century.

Rob Ghiglieri pauses his walk across a dusty hillside on the outskirts of Virginia City to look at a tangled web of footprints weaving in circles around the ruins of the abandoned Forman Shaft. Once a massive, seven-story-tall structure, it boasted some of the deepest shafts in the West. Decades later, the shaft remained an accessible open pit plunging hundreds of feet into the ground.

The Forman Shaft has since been closed off — visitors can still drive to the site and wander around, but the entrance has been covered by a massive steel grate. Ghiglieri, administrator of the Nevada Division of Minerals, said he still worries when he sees so many footprints around old mine sites.

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Judge rules against tribes in fight over Nevada lithium mine they say is near sacred massacre site – by Scott Sonner (Associated Press – November 16, 2023)

https://apnews.com/

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge in Nevada has dealt another legal setback to Native American tribes trying to halt construction of one of the biggest lithium mines in the world. U.S. District Judge Miranda Du granted the government’s motion to dismiss their claims the mine is being built illegally near the sacred site of an 1865 massacre along the Nevada-Oregon line.

But she said in last week’s order the three tribes suing the Bureau of Land Management deserve another chance to amend their complaint to try to prove the agency failed to adequately consult with them as required by the National Historic Preservation Act.

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OPINION: Reasonable Republicans understand the value of trade relationships – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – October 17, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo finished off a recent trade mission to Ontario and Quebec by hosting a reception in downtown Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame. The evening was marked by two striking moments. The first was the sight of the Nevada delegation, decked out in their Vegas Golden Knights jerseys, posed around the Stanley Cup, while Mr. Lombardo said, with a smile: “We waited a long time for this.”

He said this to a room full of Toronto Maple Leaf fans, who’ve been waiting a little longer than the Knights’ six years for a championship.

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Nevada lithium mine leads to ‘green colonialism’ accusations – by James Clayton & Ben Derico (British Broadcasting Corporation – October 8, 2023)

https://www.bbc.com/

In the high Nevadan desert near the Oregon border lies an enormous deposit of lithium, a metal that is essential in the production of electric car batteries. President Joe Biden wants to get it out of the ground. But its exploration is dividing communities which are usually on the same side of political arguments.

Environmentalists and native people cannot agree on whether a new rush for this “white gold” should be supported or fiercely opposed. “The entire environmental community is split on this thing,” says Glen Miller, who used to be on the board of local environmental charity Great Basin Resource Watch, which is opposed to mining.

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Ontario, Nevada ink deal to boost mining business – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – September 29, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury-based MineConnect has played a major role in creating business partnerships in the mining supply sectors in Nevada and Ontario

Ontario and Nevada have signed a formal agreement to enhance the mining industry in both of those jurisdictions.

Nevada is located in the western United States and has a long history of mining, especially for silver (Comstock Lode). Nevada is also strong in mining copper, gold, lithium and molybdenum, minerals that are critical to the battery electric vehicle industry.

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Ontario Teachers’ Bid for Lithium Stake on Hold After Lawsuit – by Jacob Lorinc and Paula Sambo (Bloomberg News – September 27, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A dispute between two mining firms has cast uncertainty on a Canadian pension fund’s bid to invest in one of the world’s largest lithium projects.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan was nearing a deal to buy a bundle of battery metals royalties from New York-based Orion Resource Partners that includes a royalty on future revenues from the Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Lithium Americas and Ioneer Carrying the Weight of all Lithium Clay Deposits on their Shoulders – by Ryan D. Long (Linkedin.com – September 21, 2023)

https://www.linkedin.com/

Introduction

Sedimentary (clay) lithium deposits are formed from volcanic eruptions that deposit lithium bearing volcanic glass and ash (tuffs), which is gradually eroded and leached over time to create a lithium-bearing clay, called smectite. The smectite clays can then be subject to hydrothermal alteration, which increase the lithium content and alters the smectite to illite clay.

Surprisingly over 90% of sedimentary lithium exploration/development projects are located in the US, with an incredible 75% found in Nevada. In general, sedimentary lithium deposits are lower-grade than igneous (hard rock) lithium deposits but higher grade than lithium brine deposits, and in terms of scale (contained LCE) they tend to be larger than igneous lithium deposits but smaller than lithium brine deposits.

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Mark Bristow: Dream big and work hard (Elko Daily Free Press – September 16, 2023)

https://elkodaily.com/

The Mining Minds podcast crew recently went to the Nevada Gold Mines offices in Elko to visit with Mark Bristow, the president and chief executive office of Barrick Gold Corp. Barrick is the operator and 61.5% owner of Nevada Gold Mines, and Newmont owns 38.5%.

Bristow took the podcast listeners on a journey through his life story and the challenges and successes along the way. He grew up in South Africa and was always involved in sports and athletics – “I’ve run more than 200 standard marathons.” There were a lot of political changes going on in the country. He was conscripted into the military at the peak of apartheid.

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First Majestic launches silver minting facility in Las Vegas (Elko Daily Free Press – September 16, 2023)

https://elkodaily.com/

First Majestic Silver Corp. has announced the launch of its 100%-owned and operated minting facility, First Mint, LLC, in Las Vegas, Nevada. First Mint will expand upon First Majestic’s existing bullion sales through vertically integrating the production of investment-grade fine silver bullion. First Majestic said this will make it possible to sell a substantially greater portion of its silver production directly to its shareholders and bullion customers.

First Majestic owns and operates the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine, the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine and the La Encantada Silver Mine in Mexico, and the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine north of Elko where mining operations are currently suspended as exploration and mine evaluation continues.

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Lithium, Nickel Miners Get $110 Million Boost From US Defense Department – by Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – September 12, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Albemarle Corp. and Talon Metals Corp. are getting about $110 million in new US government funding to support the expansion of domestic mining of lithium and nickel, two metals critical to the nation’s energy transition.

Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, will get $90 million to help support the miner’s planned reopening of its Kings Mountain, North Carolina lithium mine. Nickel miner Talon Metals will get $20.6 million to advance exploration of its Tamarack Intrusive Complex in Minnesota. The agreements, under the Defense Production Act, were announced Tuesday by the Defense Department.

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The key ingredient to millions of EVs is buried under a former volcano — but there’s still a lot we don’t know – by Justine Calma (The Verge – August 30, 2023)

https://www.theverge.com/

The company constructing a controversial new lithium mine to supply GM’s electric vehicles knows where it wants to drill next based on new research it published today.

Lithium Americas broke ground on its mine at Thacker Pass in Nevada after facing fierce opposition from Native American tribes, environmental advocates, and local ranchers. But that mine is just one slice of the McDermitt Caldera, the remnants of a supervolcano that’s now believed to hold one of the biggest lithium deposits in the world.

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Nevada holds a key to America’s energy future – by Rich Nolan (Las Vegas Sun – August 22, 2023)

https://lasvegassun.com/

Rich Nolan is president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

Many Las Vegas policymakers and residents take great pride in being the first large city to run on 100 percent renewable energy, including massive solar and wind installations, hydropower from the Hoover Dam and an extensive electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

But it’s how Las Vegas and Nevada are leading on the front-end of America’s advanced energy supply chain that’s arguably far more notable. As one of the nation’s major mining states, Nevada is providing the resources that will be crucial for 21st-century advances in renewable energy.

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Lithium Royalty wins legal victory in dispute over revenue from Thacker Pass mine in Nevada – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – August 17, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Lithium Royalty Corp. has won a court battle over a stake in one of the world’s largest lithium projects, the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada, setting the stage for a settlement analysts estimate could be worth more than $300-million.

Toronto-based Lithium Royalty, which has helped finance 32 mining projects, spent the past two years in a dispute with asset manager Orion Resource Partners over a royalty on future revenues from Thacker Pass, which is owned by Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp.

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The fighting priest of the Nevada mining camps – by Sean M. Wright (Detroit Catholic – August 14, 2023)

https://www.detroitcatholic.com/

Many Irishmen arrived in California during the California Gold Rush. Among them was the brawny Patrick Manogue (pronounced “Manigan”) — “Paddy” to his friends, one of seven orphaned children.

Born in County Kilkenny in 1831, the young man left college and emigrated to the United States, landing in the gold fields in Moore’s Flat, California. Many disputes occurred among the prospectors in the mining camp, and Manogue was never one to turn his back on a donnybrook. Although only in his early 20s, he stood a muscular six feet, four inches tall. A fair man, Paddy Manogue was often asked to arbitrate these disputes.

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9th Circuit denies bid by environmentalists and tribes to block Nevada lithium mine Scott Sonner (Associated Press – July 17, 2023)

https://apnews.com/

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The latest bid by conservationists and tribal leaders to block construction of a huge lithium mine already in the works along the Nevada-Oregon line was denied by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.

A three-panel judge of the San Francisco-based appellate court rejected a half-dozen legal arguments the opponents had put forth in their appeal seeking to overturn federal land managers’ approval of one of the projects at the forefront of President Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate change.

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