Biden Admin Poised To Approve Ford EV Supplier’s Nevada Mine

Back in July 2022, Ford announced a bevy of new deals it had signed with various suppliers that are all aimed at one specific purpose – to secure raw materials needed for the construction of EV batteries. One of those companies was ioneer, which has been working on securing funding for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, which received a conditional commitment of up to $700 million from the Department of Energy for mining operations in Nevada in January 2023.

As Ford Authority reported this past April, ioneer still had one major hurdle to overcome before it could begin mining in Nevada’s Silver Peak Range – the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) needed to sign off on the site’s environmental impact after they identified significant protections for the endangered Tiehm’s Buckwheat, a desert flower endemic to the area, which had already prompted ioneer to modify its mining proposal in an effort to minimize its impact on the local environment.

Now, according to Reuters, the Biden Administration’s BLM has published its final environmental impact on this matter, which marks the start of a 30-day review period before a decision is made and permits are issued. The proposed mine – which is located around 225 miles north of Las Vegas, is one of North America’s largest sources of lithium and could produce enough of that material to power roughly 370,000 all-electric vehicles annually.

Trouble is, the proposed future mining site is also home to the aforementioned Tiehm’s Buckwheat flower, which isn’t currently found anywhere else on earth and was declared an endangered species back in 2021. Select conservation groups have opposed the mine as a result, but BLM noted that it has worked with the FWS to create “significant protections for the plant,” including changing design plans for the mine and coming up with a formal protection plan. “We’re steadfast in our commitment to be responsible stewards of our public lands as we deliver the promise of a clean energy economy,” said BLM director Tracy Stone-Manning.