"In the Nevada valley that is one of the most significant domestic sources of a key element for the energy transition, one company controls the groundwater needed to mine it, another is fighting for a share of it and others are lining up at the tap."
"Over the past few decades, the United States has imported most of its lithium from Chile and Argentina, but there’s one major domestic source of the mineral—Nevada. Clayton Valley, a remote basin in the nation’s driest state, is home to the Silver Peak mine, where lithium is extracted in gridded ponds that turn neon blue as they recover one of Earth’s lightest elements through solar evaporation.
Albemarle, a North Carolina-based company, runs Silver Peak as the only active lithium mine in the U.S. But over the past decade, amid a growing demand for electric vehicles and batteries to store electricity from intermittent renewable sources, dozens of mining companies have rushed to the area, vying for the element critical to the energy transition and the water that’s key to extracting it from the Earth.
Mining operators across the West have faced major barriers in the global race for lithium. Mines come with large footprints that can disrupt wildlife habitat, harm cultural sites and put pressures on communities. On top of all that is another major challenge posing a barrier for lithium projects in the western U.S. and Clayton Valley: Competition for limited water supplies."
Daniel Rothberg reports for Inside Climate News April 8, 2024.
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