The “White Hill” at Rhyolite Ridge in Esmeralda County, Nevada. (Photo courtesy Ioneer)
Massive changes are on the horizon for Nevada’s least populated county, and the endangered wildflower that grows within its boundaries, after federal land managers released an industry-friendly environmental review for a proposed open-pit lithium mine.
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management advanced Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron mine and chemical processing plant near Tonopah and released a final environmental impact statement that finds the mining project should be allowed to proceed.
Once constructed the massive 7,000 acre project would be in operation for 23 years and remove enough lithium from Nevada’s public lands to supply nearly 370,000 electric vehicles each year.
Rhyolite Ridge is the first lithium project to reach this stage of the environmental permitting review process under the Biden administration, which has committed to decarbonize the U.S. electricity grid by 2035.
The environmental impact statement (EIS) is a detailed federal study analyzing the potential environmental and social impacts of the lithium mine. Friday’s final review revealed the likely impacts of a quickly changing landscape.
Dozens of species that call the site home now will likely be pushed out, according to the final environmental review. Throughout its lifetime, the mine will result in the removal of more than 2,000 acres of of nesting sites and foraging habitat for a bevy of species, including mule deer, desert bighorn sheep, burrowing owls, golden eagles, desert horned lizard, mountain cottontail, and other desert critters.
But not all species have the ability to migrate. The mine would also encroach on critical habitat for the federally protected Tiehm’s buckwheat, an endangered wildflower that evolved to survive on inhospitable lithium-boron rich soil found near large deposits like Rhyolite Ridge.
Included in the plan is a 66 acre quarry — a deep open pit characteristic of mines and where the lithium would be extracted — over the flower’s only known habitat, degrading hundreds of acres of critical habitat designated for the flower.
Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine is in the Silver Peak Range in Esmeralda County near the state line with California. (BLM map)
The exact number of acres of critical habitat that will ultimately be handed over to extraction is still up for negotiation. Ioneer has proposed development on up to 354 acres of critical habitat for their mining operation, while an alternative plan proposed by the BLM limited disturbances on the flowers critical habitat to 191 acres.
Conservation groups lambasted the federal government for moving forward with the mine, including allowing a quarry within the 910 acres of federally protected critical habitat put aside for the flower.
“It’s an outrage that the BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service capitulated to the demands of a mining company whose plans clearly run afoul of the Endangered Species Act,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These agencies are entrusted with preserving our biodiversity for future generations, and instead they’re turning this flower’s only known habitat into an industrial site, condemning it to extinction.”
Donnelly said he was disappointed to see the final plan was “largely unchanged from the draft plan” published in April.
Federal land managers said they believe the modified mining plan developed through the environmental review process will “minimize impacts to the plant and its critical habitat.”
“This environmental analysis is the product of the hard work of experts from multiple agencies, to ensure we protect species as we provide critical minerals to the nation,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, Director of the Bureau of Land Management, in a statement. “We’re steadfast in our commitment to be responsible stewards of our public lands as we deliver the promise of a clean energy economy.”
Springs could stop flowing for the next 200 years
Despite approving the project’s advancement, the final environmental review did acknowledge a number of environmental impacts to Nevada’s land and water.
Construction and mining activities near the wildflower’s habitat would permanently degrade hundreds of acres of habitat for butterflies, moths, and other insects that pollinate the wildflower and other plants, according to the review. It would also permanently alter water flow and runoff that pockets of the Tiehm’s buckwheat depend on for survival.
Lithium extraction also requires massive amounts of water. Ioneer plans to source water from Esmeralda County’s Fish Lake Valley, an over appropriated basin. Groundwater in Nevada is not well understood due to the complexity of the region’s aquifers, but over the past 50 years agriculture has reduced groundwater in Fish Lake Valley by up to 200 feet in some areas.
Federal land managers estimate that mining will reduce groundwater in the valley by up to 300 feet around the quarry, and cause the surrounding ground to sink by up to 10 inches. The review acknowledges that other potential effects on groundwater remain unclear, despite BLM’s review.
Springs in the valley support a trove of aquatic life in the driest state in the nation — including snails, diving beetles, Fish Lake Valley tui chub, and the Fish Lake Valley toad. But it’s not clear to federal land managers if those life supporting springs are dependent on groundwater flow, according to the environmental review.
If the valley’s springs are fed by groundwater, it’s possible the springs could stop flowing for the next 200 years while the aquifer recovers. Federal land managers estimate that groundwater withdrawals resulting from the mine would reduce the water supply for desert wildlife at 32 surface water sites, according to the review.
Esmeralda County, the least populated county in Nevada, will likely bear the brunt of supporting mining operations. The mine, the largest development project in the county in the last 20 years, will require the county to take on significant extra costs to expand law enforcement, health services, public utilities and waste disposal to accommodate the boom in workers, according to the final environmental review.
The county would also need to take on higher maintenance expenses for the wear-and-tear on roads carrying heavy machinery, a concern reiterated by county commissioners in June during the final review comment period. State Highway 264 and other transportation routes through the small town of Dryer will need to transport hazardous materials and hundreds of diesel fuel vehicles a day to and from the mine, according to the environmental review.
Relief for taxpayers in Esmeralda County would only come after Ioneer starts paying a small property tax after four years, and the county starts receiving its share of the state net proceeds of minerals tax in later years. In 2021, Esmeralda County operated on a deficit budget. If the deficit continues or grows due to increased spending, the Nevada Department of Taxation could choose to increase property taxes in the county to balance the budget, according to BLM’s environmental review.
BLM is expected to issue its Record of Decision after a 30-day comment period. Construction of the mine would take 24-36 months and production would begin in 2028, according to Ioneer’s scheduling estimates.
Construction of the mine will require a workforce of 500 people for four years, and a workforce of 350 people to work on quarrying and processing over 14 years.
“We look forward to the conclusion of the 30-day statutory waiting period and timely issuance of the Record of Decision to advance Rhyolite Ridge into construction. We are eager to get to work in contributing to the domestic supply of critical materials essential for the transition to a clean energy future,” said James Calaway, Ioneer’s executive chairman in a statement.