Source: Kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
In the battle to advance a green energy agenda, the US has been a hugely vocal proponent, especially under the Biden administration.
The problem is their actions have been anything but.
Environmental regulations from the same government pressing the issue have left the US mining industry in the dust and made the country substantially dependent on foreign sources for the minerals needed to make the transition.
That may be about to change.
A patch of land in the southwest region of Nevada is home to the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron deposit. The deposit is estimated to contain 3.4 million metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent — enough lithium to make batteries for 370,000 EVs per year over a 26 year mining lifespan.
And one company could be in position to benefit big time..
Ioneer
Ioneer (NASDAQ: IONR) has a unique story around the project…
In 2016, while doing business as Global Geoscience (the company changed its name to Ioneer in 2018) prospectors in the region brought evidence of a major deposit to the company’s managing director, Bernard Rowe.
A year later they obtained ownership of the project.
Since then, the company has been immersed in feasibility studies, negotiating supply offtake agreements and applying for permitting applications.
The company’s plans are unique in that they include a processing facility to produce the finished lithium product. This takes China out of the production supply chain.
Just this past October, the project finally got full approval, which is significant:
In fact the Rhyolite Ridge project is only the second major lithium mine to get approval in the country in the past decade, the other, Thacker Pass, in northern Nevada was permitted in early 2021 at the tail end of the Trump administration.
Construction is set to begin in 2025 and an expected production start date in 2028.
But not everything will be smooth sailing going forward.
Progress has recently been threatened by an environmental lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity.
Still the project is as close to a mining breakthrough in the US as there has been for a long time. Negotiating a settlement to their current legal issues could put the company back on track for a very profitable future.
Ioneer Ltd American Depositary Shares (IONR)
Source; Barchart
Ioneer may be a mining company well worth looking into.
