16-04-2025
Esmeralda County secures at least $15 million to mitigate impacts of lithium mine
Goldfield is the county seat in Esmeralda County. (Photo: Sydney Martinez/Travel Nevada)
Esmeralda County has secured an agreement with lithium developer Ioneer that will bring the rural county at least $15 million in funding to mitigate the impacts of a massive planned mine in the least populated county in the state.
Earlier this month, the Esmeralda County Board of Commissioners approved a development agreement with Ioneer that will provide the county with at least $5 million in funding for emergency services and more than $10 million for road improvements and maintenance.
The seven year development agreement is meant to 'reasonably mitigate the land use impacts that the development' of Ioneer's 7,000 acre Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project 'will have on the citizens of Esmeralda County.'
Esmeralda County is the least populated county in Nevada, a fact reflected by the county's infrastructure and services. The county is built to support the roughly 750 residents who live there, but if the projected 500 construction jobs it will take to build the lithium mine is accurate, that influx alone would nearly double the county's population within a couple of years.
Under the agreement, Ioneer will reimburse Esmeralda County for the cost of three sheriff's deputies and six emergency services staffers, including salary and insurance and retirement and benefit costs. Esmeralda County will also be reimbursed for three converted patrol vehicles, one fire truck, and one ambulance under the agreement.
'Ioneer's investments will make for a safer and more secure Esmeralda County,' said County Fire Chief Jeffrey Bushnell in a press release Monday. 'We're grateful for their financial support and look forward to our continued partnership for the many years that follow.'
The agreement is in the final stages of approval with the county. A signed copy of the agreement will be posted once finalized, according to county officials.
'Ioneer has embraced our entire community, welcoming our input. They have left no stone unturned in a quest for a fair and harmonious development agreement,' said Mary Jane Zakas, Esmeralda County Commissioner for District 3 in a statement.
For years, county officials have raised concerns about how the largest development project in the county in the last 22 years would require significant investments from the county to expand law enforcement, emergency services, and waste disposal. The county will also need to take on higher maintenance expenses for the wear-and-tear on roads carrying heavy machinery, a concern reiterated by county commissioners last year during the project environmental review period.
Those impacts will now be partially mitigated by the development agreement which is designed to 'promote the health, safety and general welfare' of Esmeralda County residents while ensuring the 'highest economic benefit and least fiscal cost to its citizens,' according to the agreement.
Dyer, a small town about 13 miles from the proposed lithium mine, would likely face the brunt of the impacts from the project.
State Highway 264 and other transportation routes through the town of Dryer would be used to transport hazardous materials and hundreds of diesel fuel vehicles a day to and from the mine, according to the environmental review.
Under the development agreement, Ioneer would be required to prepare and deliver an emergency response plan to the county before the company starts transporting or storing hazardous materials on the project site, including truckloads of boric acid needed to mine lithium.
Ioneer would also be required to pay up to $25,000 annually for emergency response and fire protection training as soon as the company begins delivering equipment for construction of the mine.
The increase of emergency services needed to accommodate mining operations also calls for an emergency facility to house the additional emergency workers the county plans to hire, according to the development agreement. Ioneer will be required to pay up to $900,000 for the construction of an emergency facility near the intersection of State Highway 264 and State Highway 773.
Lithium extraction requires massive amounts of water, a tough sell in a state plagued by two decades of drought. Ioneer plans to source water from Esmeralda County's Fish Lake Valley, where the groundwater supply is already over-appropriated and over-pumped. Over the past 50 years agriculture has reduced groundwater in Fish Lake Valley by up to 200 feet in some areas, drying up residential wells.
The agreement acknowledges the need for groundwater mitigation by establishing a county-administered program to help residents in the region who need domestic water wells drilled deeper or rehabilitated.
However, the program would only be funded if Esmeralda County secures grants to fund the jobs and associated costs that Ioneer would have covered under the agreement. In that scenario, Ioneer would get paid back the costs in annual payments and half that money would be set aside for the well digging program.
County officials have also raised concerns about the costs of expanding waste disposal services to accommodate the boom in workers needed to construct the mine.
The agreement addressed that concern by noting that Ioneer will reimburse the county for the cost of a garbage truck if the volume of household waste increases to the point where another is needed.
'We are dedicated to being good neighbours, providing the County with the necessary resources to ensure that our funding assists the County and services it provides in preparation for the commencement of project construction,' said Bernard Rowe the Managing Director of Ioneer in a statement Monday.
Federal land managers gave their final approval for the mine in October, after a four year federal permitting and environmental review process. Ioneer also secured a $996 million federal loan in January to fund the mine processing facilities and associated infrastructure.
However, the project was hit with a financial setback in February when South African mining company Sibanye-Stillwater pulled back plans to invest $490 million in Ioneer for a 50 percent stake in the project following cratering lithium prices.
Despite the setback, Ioneer said Rhyolite Ridge is construction ready and the company is currently focused on seeking a new equity partner to bring the project into production.
Once constructed the massive 7,000 acre project would be in operation for 23 years and remove enough lithium from Nevada's public lands to supply nearly 370,000 electric vehicles each year.
The project has also attracted fierce opposition from conservation groups opposed to the mine's encroachment on critical habitat reserved for the only known population of the endangered wildflower Tiehm's buckwheat. The flower grows on just 10 acres of lithium-boron rich soil near the Silver Peak Range in Esmeralda County.
A week after the federal government approved the mine, the Center for Biological Diversity initiated a lawsuit against the mine under the Endangered Species Act.
If constructed, the mine would create a 66 acre quarry — a deep open pit characteristic of mines and where the lithium would be extracted — and directly disturb about 191 acres of critical habitat for the Tiehm's buckwheat. In total the mine would result in the removal of more than 2,000 acres of nesting sites and foraging habitat for a number of species.
