Ioneer, a company focused on the production of lithium minerals, received on October 24 from the Bureau of Land Management the federal permit for the development of the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project.
Rhyolite Ridge will increase production of the critical mineral in the United States and support investment in Esmeralda County, Nevada, with the goal of constructing the project in 2025 and achieving first production in 2028.
The project will supply batteries for more than 370,000 American-made electric vehicles each year and will process critical battery materials on site in the United States.
A huge mine of lithium and boron
The Rhyolite Ridge lithium and boron project is a large-scale, open-pit project.
The project is expected to generate an average of 22,340 tonnes
“For more than six years we have worked closely with state, federal and tribal governments, as well as the Fish Lake Valley community, to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of our Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project. We value the relationships with these stakeholders and their willingness to engage, discuss issues and develop solutions. Without this open and honest dialogue, this outcome would never have been possible,” said Bernard Rowe, CEO of Ioneer.
“This permit gives us the ability to begin construction in 2025 and begin our work creating hundreds of good-paying rural jobs, generating millions in tax revenue for Esmeralda County, and strengthening the nation’s production of essential minerals.”
“I can say with absolute certainty that there are few deposits in the world with the same impact as Rhyolite Ridge. Today’s approval of Ioneer’s federal permit is the culmination of countless hours of work and is a testament to the dedication of our extraordinary team to the development and construction of one of the most sustainable mining projects in the country,” said Ioneer Executive Chairman James Calaway .
“We are pleased with the results we have achieved working with the Biden Administration and the bi-partisan support we have received at the federal, state and local levels.”
Minerals and reserves
The Rhyolite Ridge project will be built on a portion of land in Esmeralda County, within the Silver Peak Range, approximately 20 kilometers northeast of Dyer, Nevada. The area is very isolated, very sparsely inhabited and therefore does not pose major disturbances for urban centres.
The deposit is located in the Basin and Range province, characterized by normal faults that create ravines and grabens.
The project site includes Tertiary volcanic formations characterized by stratified sedimentary and volcanic materials.
Esmeralda County, Nevada
Folded and faulted metasedimentary bedrocks of the Precambrian-Paleozoic era are overlain by volcanic rocks of the Tertiary period.
The mineralization at the Rhyolite Ridge project is contained in the lacustrine sediment layers surrounding the Rhyolite Ridge Tuff and Argentite Canyon volcanic rocks, which are more than six million years old.
The lacustrine layer of training Cave Spring contains three components. The central one is lined with gritstones which have unusual levels of lithium in the upper section.
As of April 2020, the Rhyolite lithium-boron project’s verified and probable mineral reserves were calculated to be 60.2 million tonnes, grading 1,797 parts per million lithium and 15,418 parts per million boron.
The project plans to sell lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃) as a technical grade product with 99% purity during the first three years of operation. Starting in the fourth year, the focus will shift to selling lithium hydroxide (LiOH) with a purity greater than 99.5%.
This mine will also allow it to develop a rare earth refining business which is equally important as the mine, also because it tends to diminish China’s dominant position in the sector.
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