Nevada lithium mine clears major hurdle despite conservationists' worries for rare wildflower

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge in Nevada has ruled against conservationists who wanted to stop a lithium-boron mine they said would harm an endangered wildflower.

The ruling marks a major legal victory for the 11-square-mile (28.49 square-kilometer) Rhyolite Ridge Lithium/Boron Mine Project in Esmeralda County, located between Reno and Las Vegas. The land holds the largest lithium and boron deposit in the world outside of Turkey, said Bernard Rowe, managing director of Ioneer, the Australia-based company behind the project.

U.S. District Judge Cristina Silva ruled Friday that the federal government properly approved the project and sufficiently examined the impacts the project will have on the rare wildflower called Tiehm’s buckwheat, whose entire population grows within 10 acres (4.05 hectares) of land in the project area. Environmental groups behind the lawsuit say they may appeal.

Lithium is an essential component of electric vehicle batteries. Rhyolite Ridge would be Nevada’s third lithium mine, and one of few mines that will process the materials on site, Rowe said.

“Rhyolite Ridge will create hundreds of new American jobs, reduce reliance on foreign materials and processing, and provide a domestic source of two critical minerals,” Chad Yeftich, vice president of corporate development and external affairs at Ioneer, said in a statement.

Growing US manufacturing

Ioneer wants construction to start by the end of this year and production in 2029, though it is still looking for a financial partner after a major investor pulled out last year. Sibanye Stillwater said the project did not make financial sense. In January 2025, the Department of Energy finalized a nearly $1 billion loan for the project.

The $2 billion mine would have a life span of over 77 years and would produce enough lithium carbonate for around 400,000 electric vehicles, Rowe said. It will also produce boric acid, which is used in pest control, flame retardant, and medical and personal care.

Rhyolite Ridge was first approved under the Biden administration as an part of the former president’s clean energy agenda. The Trump administration has also supported lithium projects in Nevada as a way to bolster US manufacturing of critical minerals. The Interior Department declined to comment.

Protecting the wildflower

The Center for Biological Diversity, which has long fought to protect the wildflower and successfully pushed for its endangered species designation in 2022, is not finished in its fight, Great Basin Director Patrick Donnelly said.

His organization is considering appealing the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the case could have implications for other species and protected habitats on the Endangered Species Act.

“This can seem like a little remote flower in the middle of nowhere. But if we lose on Tiehm's buckwheat, you know, what else are we facing with the whittling away of the Endangered Species Act?” Donnelly said.

Tiehm’s buckwheat is a wildflower a couple inches tall that grows in an area the size of seven football fields in the Silver Peak Range. In the spring, the plant produces green leaves and yellow flowers that look like pom-poms. When it blooms, it is the epicenter of a vibrant pollinator community, Donnelly said.

Silva, a Biden-nominated judge, found Ioneer’s mitigation efforts, which include fencing around the habitat and buffer zones between the mining activities and the buckwheat, were sufficient for the purposes of the Endangered Species Act. Silva wrote that of the buckwheat’s 1.4 square mile (3.63 square kilometers) of critical habitat, it will lose 4.9% due to the project.

Donnelly maintains the mining project will increase the risk of the wildflower going extinct, which would affect the ecosystem’s biodiversity. He cast doubt that fencing around the flower’s habitat will protect it.

“There’s been this kind of death by a thousand cuts for Tiehm’s buckwheat,” Donnelly said, adding that if it were to move forward, it would be the “death blow” for the wildflower.