LITHIUM
Biden backs Nevada lithium mine with $700 million loan offerBloomberg News | January 13, 2023 |
The Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada.
(Image courtesy of ioneer.)
A Nevada lithium mine that would be only the second in the US is getting backing from the Biden administration as it seeks to boost the domestic supply of the critical mineral needed to make electric vehicle batteries.
The Energy Department issued a conditional commitment for up to $700 million for Ioneer Ltd.’s Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, a prospective supplier to Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. that could produce enough lithium for 370,000 electric vehicles a year. Project partners include mining and metals processing group Sibanye Stillwater Ltd.
The funding, being made through the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, comes as the Biden administration seeks to create a domestic battery supply chain amid a broader goal of half of vehicles sold in the US by the end of the decade be emissions-free.
Demand for lithium, which also is used for grid storage and weapons, is projected to exceed current production by 2030. The US relies on international markets for the processing of most raw materials, according to the department.
“Developing a US supply chain for these materials is a national priority as the country works toward energy independence,” the department said in a statement. “A core focus within the strategy is increasing the availability of the critical materials that are essential components of the clean energy technologies necessary for reaching national climate and economic goals.”
While Asia currently dominates the lithium carbonate refining process, the Rhyolite Ridge deposit is one of two known sizeable lithium-boron deposits in the world, the Energy Department said.
Ioneer expects to get US approvals that will allow the company to start building the project next year with the aim to start producing lithium in 2026, according to the company. It still needs to get final approval from the US Interior Department because public lands near the site are home to the endangered wildflower Tiehm’s buckwheat.
The Energy Department said the company has invested $1.2 million on research to preserve the plant and has revised its mining plan to avoid direct impacts on the plant.
(By Ari Natter)
A Nevada lithium mine that would be only the second in the US is getting backing from the Biden administration as it seeks to boost the domestic supply of the critical mineral needed to make electric vehicle batteries.
The Energy Department issued a conditional commitment for up to $700 million for Ioneer Ltd.’s Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, a prospective supplier to Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. that could produce enough lithium for 370,000 electric vehicles a year. Project partners include mining and metals processing group Sibanye Stillwater Ltd.
The funding, being made through the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, comes as the Biden administration seeks to create a domestic battery supply chain amid a broader goal of half of vehicles sold in the US by the end of the decade be emissions-free.
Demand for lithium, which also is used for grid storage and weapons, is projected to exceed current production by 2030. The US relies on international markets for the processing of most raw materials, according to the department.
“Developing a US supply chain for these materials is a national priority as the country works toward energy independence,” the department said in a statement. “A core focus within the strategy is increasing the availability of the critical materials that are essential components of the clean energy technologies necessary for reaching national climate and economic goals.”
While Asia currently dominates the lithium carbonate refining process, the Rhyolite Ridge deposit is one of two known sizeable lithium-boron deposits in the world, the Energy Department said.
Ioneer expects to get US approvals that will allow the company to start building the project next year with the aim to start producing lithium in 2026, according to the company. It still needs to get final approval from the US Interior Department because public lands near the site are home to the endangered wildflower Tiehm’s buckwheat.
The Energy Department said the company has invested $1.2 million on research to preserve the plant and has revised its mining plan to avoid direct impacts on the plant.
(By Ari Natter)
Nevada lithium mine gets conditional $700M government loan
By SCOTT SONNER
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy announced a conditional loan of $700 million Friday to an Australian mining company to pursue a lithium project still facing environmental hurdles in Nevada as the U.S. seeks domestic supplies for a key component in electric vehicle batteries.
The move ups the ante in what’s already a high-stakes battle over President Joe Biden’s energy agenda and conservationists fighting to protect an endangered wildflower found only at the proposed mine site on a high desert ridge halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.
Ioneer Ltd. has hoped to begin mining at Rhyolite Ridge by 2026 in Esmerelda County. The Energy announcement said the site could produce enough lithium to support production of about 370,000 electric vehicles annually for decades.
The loan would be the latest project to demonstrate the Biden administration’s commitment to strengthen the nation’s battery supply chain, electrify the transportation sector and cut reliance on fossil fuels and foreign supplies of raw materials, the Department of Energy said.
Jigar Shah, director of DOE’s Loans Programs Office, said his office is “excited to further develop an environmentally responsible U.S. supply chain for critical materials.”
“Rhyolite Ridge is a major step towards bolstering domestic lithium production for clean energy technologies,” he said.
James Calaway, executive chairman of Ioneer, said the conditional commitment “highlights the project’s strategic role in strengthening the nation’s critical mineral supply chain in providing a secure, sustainable and reliable domestic source of lithium for the growing vehicle ecosystem.” Bernard Rowe, Ioneer’s managing director, said it came after 23 months “of discussion and due diligence” by Energy and “represents a significant milestone” for the project.
But the project still faces a significant legal and regulatory challenge in developing a mining operations plan that will provide adequate protection for the endangered Nevada wildflower, Tiehm’s buckwheat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in declaring it endangered last year that it is on the brink of extinction and the mining project posed the single biggest threat to its survival.
Conservationists have sued in the past to protect the 6-inch-tall plant with yellow blooms and vowed on Friday to do so again if necessary.
“What this looks like is a fairly transparent effort by the Biden administration to build political and economic momentum for the project in an effort to steamroll the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Endangered Species Act,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Ioneer is going to have to completely overhaul the design of this mine if they expect to pass through permitting,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “We’ve sued or initiated lawsuits over Tiehm’s buckwheat four times already, and we won’t back down until every buckwheat is saved.”
The Energy Department announcement said the Ioneer project is working to minimize impact on the plant. It said the loan is contingent on completion of an environmental impact statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The Biden administration has made a plan for half a million charging stations for electric vehicles a signature piece of its infrastructure goals. That effort, and the growth of electric vehicle companies such as Tesla, will require much more lithium to make batteries.
Although lithium reserves are distributed widely across the globe, the U.S. is home to just one active lithium mine, in Nevada. Worldwide demand for lithium was about 350,000 tons (317,517 metric tons) in 2020, but industry estimates project demand will be up to six times greater by 2030.
Shah said large projects like this go forward step by step.
“We clearly are not committing any capital to the project yet,” Shah said Friday in a telephone interview with AP. “They still have to meet the conditions. But by doing this, it gives their equity investors some comfort that they should continue to invest in the project.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is among those backing the project.
“I applaud the Energy Department for providing this loan to help support the mining and processing of Nevada’s critical minerals, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to the creation of jobs in our state,” she said in a statement.
Lithium is fundamental to the battery technology that is most common in electric vehicles and battery electric storage systems. But many engineers are working on alternative battery chemistries because lithium involves rock mining, which means major disturbance to the environment.
Ioneer is a lithium focused company based in New South Wales, Australia and Reno.
Another new lithium mining project in development in the U.S. is proposed for Thacker Pass by Lithium Americas near the Oregon line. That northern Nevada mine would make millions of tons of lithium available, but it too faces legal challenges. Native American tribes have argued that it’s located on sacred lands near where dozens of their ancestors were massacred in 1865.
By SCOTT SONNER
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In this photo provided by the Center for Biological Diversity, Tiehm's buckwheat grows in the high desert in the Silver Peak Range of western Nevada about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas, in June 2019, where a lithium mine is planned. The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, announced a conditional loan of $700 million to an Australian mining company to pursue a proposed lithium project in Nevada. But the project still faces a significant hurdle in developing a mining operations plan that will provide adequate protection for the endangered Nevada wildflower, Tiehm's buckwheat. (Patrick Donnelly/Center for Biological Diversity via AP, File)
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy announced a conditional loan of $700 million Friday to an Australian mining company to pursue a lithium project still facing environmental hurdles in Nevada as the U.S. seeks domestic supplies for a key component in electric vehicle batteries.
The move ups the ante in what’s already a high-stakes battle over President Joe Biden’s energy agenda and conservationists fighting to protect an endangered wildflower found only at the proposed mine site on a high desert ridge halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.
Ioneer Ltd. has hoped to begin mining at Rhyolite Ridge by 2026 in Esmerelda County. The Energy announcement said the site could produce enough lithium to support production of about 370,000 electric vehicles annually for decades.
The loan would be the latest project to demonstrate the Biden administration’s commitment to strengthen the nation’s battery supply chain, electrify the transportation sector and cut reliance on fossil fuels and foreign supplies of raw materials, the Department of Energy said.
Jigar Shah, director of DOE’s Loans Programs Office, said his office is “excited to further develop an environmentally responsible U.S. supply chain for critical materials.”
“Rhyolite Ridge is a major step towards bolstering domestic lithium production for clean energy technologies,” he said.
James Calaway, executive chairman of Ioneer, said the conditional commitment “highlights the project’s strategic role in strengthening the nation’s critical mineral supply chain in providing a secure, sustainable and reliable domestic source of lithium for the growing vehicle ecosystem.” Bernard Rowe, Ioneer’s managing director, said it came after 23 months “of discussion and due diligence” by Energy and “represents a significant milestone” for the project.
But the project still faces a significant legal and regulatory challenge in developing a mining operations plan that will provide adequate protection for the endangered Nevada wildflower, Tiehm’s buckwheat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in declaring it endangered last year that it is on the brink of extinction and the mining project posed the single biggest threat to its survival.
Conservationists have sued in the past to protect the 6-inch-tall plant with yellow blooms and vowed on Friday to do so again if necessary.
“What this looks like is a fairly transparent effort by the Biden administration to build political and economic momentum for the project in an effort to steamroll the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Endangered Species Act,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Ioneer is going to have to completely overhaul the design of this mine if they expect to pass through permitting,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “We’ve sued or initiated lawsuits over Tiehm’s buckwheat four times already, and we won’t back down until every buckwheat is saved.”
The Energy Department announcement said the Ioneer project is working to minimize impact on the plant. It said the loan is contingent on completion of an environmental impact statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The Biden administration has made a plan for half a million charging stations for electric vehicles a signature piece of its infrastructure goals. That effort, and the growth of electric vehicle companies such as Tesla, will require much more lithium to make batteries.
Although lithium reserves are distributed widely across the globe, the U.S. is home to just one active lithium mine, in Nevada. Worldwide demand for lithium was about 350,000 tons (317,517 metric tons) in 2020, but industry estimates project demand will be up to six times greater by 2030.
Shah said large projects like this go forward step by step.
“We clearly are not committing any capital to the project yet,” Shah said Friday in a telephone interview with AP. “They still have to meet the conditions. But by doing this, it gives their equity investors some comfort that they should continue to invest in the project.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is among those backing the project.
“I applaud the Energy Department for providing this loan to help support the mining and processing of Nevada’s critical minerals, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to the creation of jobs in our state,” she said in a statement.
Lithium is fundamental to the battery technology that is most common in electric vehicles and battery electric storage systems. But many engineers are working on alternative battery chemistries because lithium involves rock mining, which means major disturbance to the environment.
Ioneer is a lithium focused company based in New South Wales, Australia and Reno.
Another new lithium mining project in development in the U.S. is proposed for Thacker Pass by Lithium Americas near the Oregon line. That northern Nevada mine would make millions of tons of lithium available, but it too faces legal challenges. Native American tribes have argued that it’s located on sacred lands near where dozens of their ancestors were massacred in 1865.
Arkle Resources finds lithium in Ireland
Cecilia Jamasmie | January 12, 2023 |
Drilling at the Inishowen gold project in Ireland. (Image courtesy of Ankle Resources.)
Diversified explorer Arkle Resources (AIM: ARK) said on Thursday it had found lithium bearing pegmatites at its Mine River Block gold project in Ireland.
The company, until 2019 known as Connemara Mining, said that of 34 rock chip samples taken from the site late last year, six returned lithium grades of more than 0.02%, with one returning 0.09%.
The six samples that showed elevated lithium were all boulders of pegmatite rock collected around mapped granite bodies.
Geochemical results also showed clear pathfinder elements for lithium – caesium, rubidium and tantalum – which can be used to target a coarse type of igneous rock in future soil surveys, Arkle Resources said.
The company, which has so far focused on gold in Ireland, said its directors believe these results are “compelling” as they suggest the Mine River Block is fertile for lithium caesium tantalum (LCT) pegmatite deposits
“These are exciting results,” chairman John Teeling said in the statement. “We have discovered lithium on our licences. We found the rock type needed, pegmatites, and in the pegmatites found lithium and other indicator minerals. This opens compelling new opportunities for our Mine River Block. Prospecting will resume in the near future.”
Shares in the company jumped as much as 21% to 69p after the announcement, but fell sharply in afternoon trading, changing hands at 56p by 2pm local time — 2.6% lower than at Wednesday’s close. This leaves it with a market capitalization of £2.21 million (about $2.6m).
Arkle Resources has been exploring for gold and zinc in the Wicklow granite for more than two decades, but searching for lithium in hard rocks has only been viable since 2018, the company said.
Lithium prices have softened after an outstanding two-year rally labelled “insane” by Elon Musk and “unreasonable” by China’s electric vehicles maker BYD.
Producers believe the cool-off is momentary and that prices will pick up in the coming months, despite market fears over a possible cooling-off of China’s two-year lithium buying spree.
Rock Tech granted permission for early construction of lithium hydroxide plant in Germany
Staff Writer | January 12, 2023 |
Site of the lithium hydroxide converter in Guben, Brandenburg. Credit: Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
Rock Tech Lithium (TSXV: RCK) has received permission for an early start to the construction of its Guben lithium converter in Germany. First significant on-site work for this strategic critical mineral project is expected within the upcoming next weeks.
Rock Tech first announced plans to build the lithium converter in Guben, Brandenburg, in October 2021. The facility, designed to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide, will be situated about 60 km away from Tesla’s plant in Grünheide.
The decision follows an Europe-wide search by Rock Tech for a location to refine the raw material sourced from its Georgia Lake lithium project in Ontario.
“Our goal is to be the first company in the world to create a closed loop for lithium. Guben seems to us to be the ideal location for this, with subsidies also playing an important role,” Rock Tech’s CEO Dirk Harbecke stated at the time of the announcement.
In February 2022, Rock Tech applied with the Brandenburg environmental agency for the first partial permit and an early start of the project. In the course of the application procedure, which involved public participation, no objections were received, and the authorities subsequently granted approval for the first tranche of permits.
The approval for an early start is also an encouraging indicator that permission for construction of the Guben converter will be granted in due course, the company said on Thursday. In November, Rock Tech submitted the second and final tranche of permit applications for this to the authority.
Approval for construction of the Guben converter is expected from summer 2023 onwards, according to the company.
“The production of our battery-grade lithium hydroxide will be an essential part of the battery mineral supply chains in Europe – this is another reason why the approval by the authority is an important step towards implementation and sends a clear signal to the market,” added Klaus Schmitz, Rock Tech’s chief operating officer.
Once completed, the Guben converter will be the first of its kind in Europe, with expected annual production capacity of 24,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide from 2025. Total cost of the project is estimated at 650 million euros.
To date, more than 250,000 working hours and over 45 million euros have been invested by Rock Tech in the planning the design and construction of the Guben converter. With the early start permission, necessary groundwork, as well as the construction of roads, office and storage buildings, can now begin.
Shares of Rock Tech Lithium surged 16.5% as of 12:30 p.m. ET, giving the Vancouver-based company a market capitalization of C$249.3 million ($186.6m).
Staff Writer | January 12, 2023 |
Site of the lithium hydroxide converter in Guben, Brandenburg. Credit: Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
Rock Tech Lithium (TSXV: RCK) has received permission for an early start to the construction of its Guben lithium converter in Germany. First significant on-site work for this strategic critical mineral project is expected within the upcoming next weeks.
Rock Tech first announced plans to build the lithium converter in Guben, Brandenburg, in October 2021. The facility, designed to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide, will be situated about 60 km away from Tesla’s plant in Grünheide.
The decision follows an Europe-wide search by Rock Tech for a location to refine the raw material sourced from its Georgia Lake lithium project in Ontario.
“Our goal is to be the first company in the world to create a closed loop for lithium. Guben seems to us to be the ideal location for this, with subsidies also playing an important role,” Rock Tech’s CEO Dirk Harbecke stated at the time of the announcement.
In February 2022, Rock Tech applied with the Brandenburg environmental agency for the first partial permit and an early start of the project. In the course of the application procedure, which involved public participation, no objections were received, and the authorities subsequently granted approval for the first tranche of permits.
The approval for an early start is also an encouraging indicator that permission for construction of the Guben converter will be granted in due course, the company said on Thursday. In November, Rock Tech submitted the second and final tranche of permit applications for this to the authority.
Approval for construction of the Guben converter is expected from summer 2023 onwards, according to the company.
“The production of our battery-grade lithium hydroxide will be an essential part of the battery mineral supply chains in Europe – this is another reason why the approval by the authority is an important step towards implementation and sends a clear signal to the market,” added Klaus Schmitz, Rock Tech’s chief operating officer.
Once completed, the Guben converter will be the first of its kind in Europe, with expected annual production capacity of 24,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide from 2025. Total cost of the project is estimated at 650 million euros.
To date, more than 250,000 working hours and over 45 million euros have been invested by Rock Tech in the planning the design and construction of the Guben converter. With the early start permission, necessary groundwork, as well as the construction of roads, office and storage buildings, can now begin.
Shares of Rock Tech Lithium surged 16.5% as of 12:30 p.m. ET, giving the Vancouver-based company a market capitalization of C$249.3 million ($186.6m).
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