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Nevada Mining

Fate of Thacker Pass lithium mine permit to be decided soon, with 1872 Mining Law a focus – by Daniel Rothberg (Nevada Independent – January 8, 2023)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/

The interpretation of a 150-year-old mining law could be a part of whether a U.S. District Court judge upholds the federal government’s approval of a massive lithium mine — a project that has faced challenges from a local rancher, environmental groups and Native American tribes.

In legal briefs over the past two years, the mine’s opponents have challenged federal permitting of the planned Thacker Pass mine north of Winnemucca. Federal land managers, they argued, fast-tracked the project and did not adequately consider a number of issues in its environmental review — the mine’s footprint on wildlife habitat, groundwater, air quality and Indigenous sites.

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Biden’s agenda, lithium mine, tribes, greens collide in Reno – by Scott Sonner (Associated Press – January 5, 2023)

https://apnews.com/

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A high-stakes, yearslong legal battle over a huge lithium mine planned in Nevada resumes Thursday with arguments from lawyers for the mining company, the U.S. agency that approved it and the rancher, tribes and conservationists fighting the project.

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du has refused twice over the past year to grant temporary injunctions sought by tribal leaders who say the mine site is on sacred land where their ancestors were massacred by the U.S. Cavalry in 1865.

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There’s a lithium mining boom, but it’s not a jobs bonanza – by Camila Domonoske (Nevada Public Radio – December 5, 2022)

https://knpr.org/

The town of Tonopah, Nev., was born out of a silver rush. A frantic race to extract a natural resource created a town of more than 10,000 people — for a while. Today, Tonopah is home to a little over 2,000 people. But there’s a new mining boom in town.

You can see it when you check in at the old Mitzpah Hotel, all faded glory, ghost stories and tales about Wyatt Earp. Above the cash register, next to a chandelier, a screen advertises a lithium exploration company. And forty minutes outside of town, Silver Peak lithium mine is in the process of doubling production.

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In remote Nevada valley, race for more lithium comes down to water – Daniel Rothberg (Nevada Independent – October 31, 2022)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/

There is an otherworldly feel to the crystalline-blue evaporation ponds that sit in Clayton Valley, an arid area in Nevada’s least populated county, Esmeralda. From above, the ponds look like a grid of pooled water arranged in a gradient that moves from a deep-sea blue to a light-sky tone. The man-made desert pools contain what is naturally underneath the ground: water.

Pumps, drilled deep into the Earth, pull brine from an underground aquifer, and pipes move the salty water into the expansive holding ponds. This is not just any water. It is rich in lithium, a mineral needed for electric cars and large-scale storage batteries, technologies in high demand as countries and industries seek to decarbonize national economies and electric grids.

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In the search for the lithium that will power our future, these three women see a bigger lesson – by Dennis Wagner (Techxplore.com – October 10, 2022)

https://techxplore.com/

Three women trek into the barren Nevada desert, boots crunching down a wash until one of them stops at an overhang, pulls out a geology pick, and chips away a chunk of rock. Over the next few minutes, and during hours of interviews, they explain the relationship between this stone and the battery that powers your electric car.

They talk about prehistoric volcanoes, subterranean brine lakes, advanced technology and the mineral that is changing the future of our planet. Lithium. This curiosity of the periodic table is an element so sensitive it can’t be found alone in nature. The pure white metal, when exposed to air, promptly oxidizes and turns black.

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Princeton sells most holdings in Lithium Americas, Protect Thacker Pass argues not enough – by Lia Opperman and Miriam Waldvogel (Daily Princetonian – October 6, 2022)

https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/

The University sold the majority of its stake in the Lithium Americas Corporation during the second quarter of 2022, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings released over the summer. As of last filing, the University’s holdings in the company are around $4.5 million, down from $92 million earlier this year.

Still, Protect Thacker Pass, a Nevada-based coalition of activists, has argued that the University’s holdings in the company remain unacceptable. Max Wilbert, the co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass, said, “We need far deeper and more significant change, including an end to car manufacturing, to stop the [ecological] crisis we’re in.” According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lithium is used in most of today’s electric vehicles.

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NGM unlocking synergies by consolidating mines, teams and processing facilities – Bristow (Mining Weekly – September 23, 2022)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

US-based Nevada Gold Mines (NGM) continues to demonstrate the impact of Barrick Gold’s strategy of combining the best assets with the best people as new projects and prospects secure its future as a high-quality, long-life operation for decades to come, says NGM chairperson Mark Bristow.

Speaking during a visit by a group of equity analysts and investors to the development of the Goldrush underground project, the openpit operations and processing facilities at Cortez, and the Third Shaft project and core shack at Turquoise Ridge, Bristow said NGM had unlocked significant synergies by consolidating mines, teams, processing facilities and landholdings.

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The Race for US Lithium Hinges on a Fight Over a Nevada Mine – by Daniel Moore (Bloomberg News – September 5, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The high-desert mountain pass overlooking alfalfa fields and RV parks doesn’t look like a battleground that will shape the country’s clean energy future.

But when the rock samples here are pulverized, pulled apart and mixed with chemicals, they yield a metal increasingly seen as white gold: lithium, a critical ingredient for batteries used in electric vehicles, solar energy storage, and consumer electronics.

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Workers report feeling unsafe at Nevada’s largest gold-mining corporation – by Nick Bowlin and Daniel Rothberg (High Country News – August 15, 2022)

https://www.hcn.org/

In 2019, Barrick Gold Corp and Newmont formed a mega-company that would be managed by Barrick’s executives. The new company, Nevada Gold Mines, now accounts for about 75% of the state’s gold production.

Earlier this year, High Country News and The Nevada Independent published an investigation into Nevada Gold Mines’ outsized influence in northeastern Nevada. With about 7,000 employees and 4,000 contractors, Nevada Gold Mines dominates the economy of that part of the state, operating with enormous influence and little competition.

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The cost of green energy: The nation’s biggest lithium mine may be going up on a site sacred to Native Americans – by Chloe Atkins and Christine Romo (NBC News – August 11, 2022)

https://www.nbcnews.com/

The huge project on public land, approved by the Trump administration in its final days, has sparked an outcry and a lawsuit, but opposition among Native Americans is not unanimous.

Thacker Pass, a remote valley in the high desert of northern Nevada, will always be sacred for Gary McKinney of the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. He often visits to honor ancestors said to be killed here by U.S. soldiers in 1865. “It’s been a gathering place for our people,” said McKinney, who lives on the Duck Valley Reservation, 100 miles to the east.

McKinney and others are now fighting a new battle over an open-pit mine planned for Thacker Pass, which sits atop a massive lode of lithium. Driven by soaring demand for lithium, which is vital to electric car batteries and renewable energy, a company called Lithium Americas hopes to break ground this year on the biggest lithium mine in the U.S.

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Lithium Miner Ioneer Finds Workaround for Wildflower That’s Stalling US Project – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – August 4, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A lithium supplier for Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. expects to clear an environmental hurdle involving a rare flower next year, paving the way for deliveries to electric-vehicle makers ahead of looming shortages of the battery metal.

Ioneer Ltd. seeks to build its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada, but the Australian company has been unable to get federal permits because public lands near the site are home to the endangered wildflower Tiehm’s buckwheat. The US Fish and Wildlife Service said in February it planned to designate about 910 acres near the project as a critical habitat for the pale yellow flower.

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Northern mine supply companies encouraged to bet on Nevada – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – June 27, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury-based MineConnect now has a sister organization based in Nevada called ‘MineConnect USA’

MineConnect, the Sudbury-based organization that promotes Northern Ontario mining supply and service companies, is encouraging a new connection with the U.S. state of Nevada.

The campaign, which has been underway for a couple of years already, was highlighted at the recent annual convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association. That’s where former MineConnect executive director Paul Bradette of Sudbury talked about the value of Northern businesses connecting with the mining industry in Nevada.

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AMC Buys Stake in Gold and Silver Mine in Nevada – by John J Edwards III (Bloomberg – March 15, 2022)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. said it’s buying 22% of a gold and silver mining company, marking an unorthodox move for the world’s largest movie-theater chain and a past darling of meme-stock investors. The cinema giant is investing in Hycroft Mining Holding Corp. alongside Eric Sprott, a gold and silver investor, AMC said in a statement Tuesday.

The parties’ equal stakes total $56 million, “which will help Hycroft considerably lengthen its financial runway,” AMC said. The investment from AMC is a much-needed boost for Denver-based Hycroft Mining, which is trying to get the mine up and running on a sustainable, commercial basis.

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Thacker Pass lithium project gets national spotlight – by Timothy Burmeister (Elko Daily Free Press – March 10, 2022)

https://elkodaily.com/

Thacker Pass today is a quiet stretch of land in Northern Nevada, rolling prairie nestled against the mountains, with lots of sagebrush and few people around.

But in the past year the area has become a hotspot of controversy, with national media pulling in to talk with protesters opposed to the Thacker Pass lithium mine that Lithium Americas is working toward building on the site. Some protesters have been camped out near the project site. Lengthy stories have been written on the protesters and the project.

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Lithium: A year of progress and protests – by Timothy Burmeister (Elko Daily Free Press – January 1, 2022)

https://elkodaily.com/

With the anticipated need for a lot more lithium to put into batteries to help power a greener future, you might think environmentalists would give a pass to some of the negative effects of the proposed lithium mines that are being planned at sites around Nevada. That’s not the case. The opposition to some of the proposed mines has been strong and may even be ramping up.

Thacker PassLithium Americas’ Thacker Pass lithium mine may be the biggest project on the horizon, and it is facing lots of opposition. Lithium Americas has been working for years on plans for Thacker Pass, which is about 60 miles northwest of Winnemucca.

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