The US District Court would on January 5 hold an oral hearing on the appeal of the record of decision (RoD) for the Thacker Pass lithium project, owner Lithium Americas confirmed on Friday.
The TSX- and NYSE-listed company has received all state and federal permits to begin construction and the ruling on the RoD represents the final regulatory hurdle to move the project forward.
“We stand ready to develop a critical source of lithium supply, creating jobs and enabling a more sustainable battery ecosystem in North America. As we await a ruling by the federal court, we are moving ahead with all areas required to support construction, including final selection of an EPCM contractor, evaluating partnership and supply agreements, as well as progressing our application with the US Department of Energy loan programme,” said president and CEO Jonathan Evans.
Since 2021, all four injunction requests related to the company’s plan to begin cultural assessment required in the RoD were denied by the federal court, and a subsequent motion to reconsider was also denied. In June 2022, the Nevada State Environmental Commission unanimously upheld the company’s approved water pollution control permit for Thacker Pass by denying an appeal in a 5-0 ruling.
From April to July, as part of the environmental impact statement issued by the Bureau of Land Management, analysis of the project site was successfully completed with no archeologically significant areas identified at Thacker Pass.
The Thacker Pass project has run into fierce local opposition; however, its supporters argue that the mine could produce enough lithium each year to match 2020’s total global output.
In early 2021, the Trump administration approved plans for a $1-billion openpit mine at Thacker Pass. The Biden administration has since defended that decision.