(Oil Price) – The Biden Administration has granted a final federal permit to a lithium-boron project in Nevada in the first such project approved by the Administration as part of its efforts to support America-produced lithium and reduce dependence on Chinese supply, the project developer said on Friday.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has issued the federal permit for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, proposed by Australian firm Ioneer Ltd in Esmeralda County, Nevada.
This is also the first lithium mine fully permitted to be built in more than 20 years. Since 2002, only three projects for mining critical minerals have come online in the United States, none of which is on public land.
The Biden Administration is supporting domestic critical minerals development with debt financing via the Energy Loan Programs Office.
Ioneer’s project received last year a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office for up to $700 million of debt financing.
The lithium from the Rhyolite Ridge, where construction is expected to begin in 2025 and first production in 2028, will supply the batteries for more than 370,000 American-made electric vehicles annually. The processing of the crucial battery materials will be made on-site in the United States.
Ioneer has signed separate offtake agreements with Ford Motor Company and PPES (a joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic), and Korea’s EcoPro Innovation.
Earlier this year, Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp received a conditional commitment for a $2.26-billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to help it build lithium processing facilities in Nevada.
The U.S. and its allies, including Europe, Canada, and Australia, are cooperating to boost their own critical minerals supply chain to reduce their dependence on Chinese supply.
The U.S. is already backing several mining companies and investment vehicles focused on critical mineral supply and the value chain in America and Australia as it looks to support the provision of key metals from countries other than China.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
