The project will quadruple US lithium output and is expected to be operationalized by 2028.
Ioneer, a company focused on lithium mineral production, received its federal permit to develop the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project from the Bureau of Land Management on October 24.
Rhyolite Ridge will boost the US’s critical mineral production and support investment in Esmeralda County, Nevada, aiming for construction in 2025 and first production in 2028.
The project will supply the batteries for more than 370,000 American-made electric vehicles annually and process crucial battery materials on-site in the United States.
Massive lithium-boron mine
The Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project is a large-scale, greenfield open-pit project.
The project is expected to generate an average of 22,340 tonnes (t) of lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃) during the first three years.
Following that, it will produce 21,951 tonnes of lithium hydroxide (LiOH) for the remainder of the mine’s life. Additionally, the project will yield 174,378 tonnes per year of boric acid (H₃BO₃) throughout its lifespan.
The total mine life is expected to be 26 years.
“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 sound and sustainable development of our Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project. We value our relationships with these stakeholders and appreciate their openness to engage, discuss concerns and develop solutions. Without that open and honest dialogue, such an outcome could never have been possible,” said Ioneer Managing Director Bernard Rowe.
“This permit gives us a license to commence construction in 2025 and begin our work in creating hundreds of good-paying rural jobs, generating millions in tax revenue for Esmeralda County, and bolstering the domestic production of critical minerals.”
“I can say with absolute confidence there are few deposits in the world as impactful as Rhyolite Ridge. Today’s approval of Ioneer’s federal permit is the culmination of countless hours of work and a testament to our remarkable team’s dedication to developing and building one of the most sustainable mining projects in the country,” said Ioneer Executive Chairman James Calaway.
“We are pleased by what we have achieved working with the Biden Administration, and by the bi-partisan support we have received at the federal, state and local levels.”
Mineral and reserves
The Rhyolite Ridge project will be constructed on a section of land in Esmeralda County, within the Silver Peak Range, roughly 20 kilometers northeast of Dyer, Nevada.
The deposit is located in the Basin and Range Province, characterized by normal faulting that creates horsts and grabens.
The project site comprises tertiary volcanic formations distinguished by layered sedimentary and volcanic materials.
Folded and faulted metasedimentary basement rocks from the Precambrian-Paleozoic era are covered by volcanic rocks from the Tertiary period.
The mineralization in the Rhyolite Ridge project is contained within lake sediment layers surrounding the Rhyolite Ridge Tuff and the volcanic rocks of Argentite Canyon, which are over six million years old.
The lacustrine layer of the Cave Spring formation contains three members. The central member is flanked by gritstones that exhibit unusual lithium levels in its upper section.
As of April 2020, the verified and likely mineral reserves at the Rhyolite lithium-boron project were calculated to be 60.2 million tonnes, with a grade of 1,797 parts per million of lithium and 15,418 parts per million of boron.
The project plans to sell lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃) as a technical-grade product with a 99% purity during its first three years of operation.
From the fourth year onward, the focus will shift to selling lithium hydroxide (LiOH) with a higher purity of 99.5%.
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