LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — An Australian company’s plan to mine lithium in Esmeralda County, Nevada, is meeting increasing resistance from environmentalists and a representative of the Western Shoshone Tribe.
Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project has been heavily criticized for its potential impact on an endangered wildflower called Tiehm’s buckwheat. But a press conference held Monday by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) added a number of concerns about the project.
Patrick Donnelly, director of Nevada CBD, said the mine poses “a serious risk of extinction” for two additional species: another wildflower called Tecopa birdbeak and a species of fish that lives in wetlands east of the mine site. mine known as Fish Lake Valley. tui chub.
“Ioneer understood concerns about Fish Lake Valley Tui Chub and the Tecopa birdbeak some time ago,” according to a statement from Chad Yeftich, Ioneer’s vice president of Corporate Development and External Affairs. “That gave us the opportunity to consider the potential impact of the project on Fish Lake Valley Tui Chub habitat.
“We are confident that our project will have no impact,” Yeftich said.
Members of the panel meeting Monday do not share faith in either Ioneer’s proposal or the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared by the Bureau of Land Management.
Dust concerns
Donnelly teamed up with three other people to make the case against the mine. Environmental consultant Dr. Michael McCarthy, California Botanical Garden conservation programs director Dr. Naomi Fraga, and Western Shoshone Defense Project director Fermina Stephens detailed the problems with the DEIS presented for the Ioneer mine . His presentation, based on a 217-page document, came as the public comment period on the project closed.
“It would be unprecedented for a single project to destroy nearly a quarter of an endangered species’ designated critical habitat,” Donnelly said.
The mine encroaches on a 910-acre parcel previously reserved to protect Tiehm’s buckwheat.
“At first glance, 22% is not acceptable,” Donnelly said. “Almost the biggest problem, however, is the remaining 78%, including where the plants themselves live. “It would be irremediably degraded by dust and the deposition of contaminants.” Factors working against Tiehm’s buckwheat include dust, pollinator disturbance, invasive species, and aerosol herbicides.
The project “does not have any legitimate restoration or remediation plan,” according to the presentation.
McCarthy described the dust’s potential impacts on the endangered wildflower, as well as how Ioneer’s efforts to suppress the dust would pose additional threats. He also said the BLM document addresses only dust from the mine’s haul roads, effectively ignoring the rest of the operation. He cited other sources of dust: excavation, tailings loading and unloading, irrigation trucks, tailings erosion, and said none of these potential dust sources were analyzed in the DEIS.
Fraga pointed out the unknowns and promises that do not provide guarantees in the DEIS, such as that “a weed monitoring and control plan will be developed prior to the implementation of the Project.” She says spraying water to suppress dust would encourage the growth of invasive species that are already present, and that poses an additional threat. She showed images of an invasive species known as saltlover that is already a threat.
“Ioneer has been working with and in the local community for the past six years, and it is a responsibility we take seriously,” the company said. “This includes our investments to protect Tiehm’s buckwheat. “Our revised plan eliminates all direct impacts and minimizes indirect impacts to Tiehm buckwheat and its habitat.” Ioneer says it has spent $2.5 million on conservation efforts and expects to spend another $1 million each year in the future.
lithium ore
Why is this particular mine so important that Ioneer is moving forward?
Donnelly said it’s not even an efficient mining proposal because it contains less lithium than the Thacker Pass mine near the Nevada-Oregon border.
But Ioneer responds with numbers indicating that the same mineral is rich in boron, a metal that has widespread industrial uses. Additionally, a layer of lithium-rich clay can be mined at the site and set aside for processing in the coming years.
Donnelly, who has been fighting Rhyolite Ridge for years, questions a process that allows approval of a $700 million loan guarantee for Ioneer before the environmental review is complete. In his words, the federal government is “putting its thumb on the scale.”
Stephens, of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, said she is concerned about the speed of this project and others that the Biden administration has prioritized. She also criticizes the BLM’s record of honoring agreements between governments.
He’s heard promises before and hopes the federal government will honor the 1863 Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in Ruby Valley. In Stephens’ opinion, the mine is on Western Shoshone land.
‘On the road to extinction’
Fraga, who works as a research assistant professor of botany at Claremont Granduate University in addition to her duties at the California Botanical Garden, believes the mine “would put this species directly on the path to extinction.”
Plans to save Tiehm’s buckwheat will fail because they are not designed for a desert ecosystem with rare plants that are in danger of extinction, Fraga said. She believes the best solution is a preplan to create a 1-mile buffer zone between any development activity and critical habitat.
He also pointed out a map that shows there is an open pit mine 15 feet from the wildflower. There is a long-term risk of the pit wall collapsing; a certainty if you ask environmentalists.
McCarthy said Ioneer’s goal of mitigating 95% of the mine’s dust would require an enormous amount of water. He noted again that the DEIS only addresses haul road dust.
Ioneer’s Yeftich said that’s incorrect. The transport path study was performed in addition to the site-wide analysis, and a summary of the Air Quality Impact Assessment in the DEIS addresses everything else.
“With regard to water use, as our water fact sheet details, Ioneer is fully prepared and committed to doing its fair share to help reduce the total volume of water pumped in Fish Lake Valley,” according to Yeftich.
“We will focus our efforts on reducing water pumped from the aquifer used for irrigation purposes in the valley, obtaining water from a separate aquifer in and around the project site. We will also employ other forms of conservation,” he said.
Ioneer expects to begin operations in 24 to 36 months if the BLM’s Record of Decision arrives on time in October 2024.
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