U.S. Lithium Sector Primed for Growth

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--U.S. lithium mining may be on the cusp of a growth phase as both Ioneer Limited (Sydney, New South Wales) and Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ:PLL) (Bessemer City, North Carolina) secured the approval necessary to proceed with their respective mining operations.

Ioneer said it was anticipating a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on its proposed Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron mine in Nevada.

"This news sets a clear path forward to construction and brings us one step closer to making Rhyolite Ridge a reality," said Bernard Rowe, Ioneer's managing director. "Rhyolite Ridge will be a significant, reliable and sustainable source of critical minerals for the United States."

Ioneer is proposing a $640 million facility that would boast net production of 20 million tons of material per day. An on-site production plant would yield more than 20,600 tons per year of lithium carbonate, which could potentially yield enough lithium for 370,000 electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project Database can click here for related project reports.

The company already has offtake agreements with South Korean chemicals company EcoPro and Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) (Toyota City, Japan) and Panasonic Holdings Corporation (Osaka, Japan). An agreement with the Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) (Dearborn, Michigan), meanwhile, supports EV production at Ford's North American assembly plants.

Through a joint venture between Ford and South Korea's SK Innovation (Seoul, South Korea), some $8.6 billion is slated for assembly and battery manufacturing plants across the country.

The draft EIS for Ioneer, meanwhile, contains information on its efforts to redesign and relocate the proposed facility to avoid Tiehm's buckwheat, an endangered species of flowering plant found in Nevada. The final EIS is expected in October and Ioneer expects production at the Nevada facility to begin in 2027.

With only one U.S. lithium mining operation in service, the White House is keen to advance the sector to capitalize on the energy transition. The government last month provided a $2.3 billion conditional loan to Canada-based Lithium Americas Corporation (NYSE:LAC) (Vancouver, British Columbia) to cover the cost of an open-pit mining operation dubbed Thacker Pass, located 200 miles north of Reno, Nevada.

Thacker Pass could support the production of some 800,000 EV batteries, making it one of the largest deposits of lithium carbonate in North America, the U.S. Department of Energy estimated.

Elsewhere, Piedmont Lithium said it received consent from the government of North Carolina to move forward with its proposed Carolina Lithium project.

"Located within both the renowned Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt and the U.S. Battery Belt, the project is being designed as a fully integrated mining, spodumene concentrate, and lithium hydroxide manufacturing operation," said President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Phillips. "There are currently no such integrated sites operating anywhere in the world, and the economic and environmental advantages of this strategy are compelling."

Subscribers can click here for the related Piedmont project reports.

The only U.S.-based mine currently producing lithium, owned by Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) (Charlotte, North Carolina), located in Silverpeak, Nevada.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).