A new University of Nevada, Reno study projects that the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Humboldt County will generate more than $1 billion annually in investment and sales for the state.
The analysis, conducted by UNR’s Extension, quantified the mine’s estimated economic and fiscal impacts on Humboldt County and Nevada as a whole.
The project drew years of protest, including demonstrations in Reno and a billboard campaign, for infringing on what Tribal leaders said were sacred ancestral lands. It was challenged in court, but ultimately, judges said the project had passed legal muster.
“The Thacker Pass lithium mining project will be the biggest desecration and rape of a known Native American massacre site in our area,” Shelly Harjo wrote in an opinion column for the Nevada Current. “Like some of my fellow enrolled tribal members, I oppose the desecration of Thacker Pass. In my opinion, it will turn what is left of my ancestral homelands into a sacrifice zone for electric car batteries.”
Lithium Americas, the corporation behind the project, commissioned the UNR research. The research looked at the short-term impacts during the mine’s seven-year construction phase and long-term effects over the project’s expected 35-year lifespan.
UNR’s Buddy Borden co-authored the study. He said, “Besides the direct effects – the expenses and labor needed to run the actual project – our analysis shows there will be a tremendous multiplier or ripple effect.”
Humboldt County is expected to see increased economic activity, with projections during the operational years reaching over $2.1 billion in annual investment and sales, more than $122 million in personal income and 1,320 jobs.
The project is also anticipated to generate substantial tax revenue.
Borden added, “Our state has a number of rural communities whose economies depend on a diverse mining industry. Adding lithium to the mix in Humboldt County certainly will contribute to the economic stability of the area, as well as the economic tax base of the state.”
The mine is being built to provide lithium to meet the global demand for vehicle batteries, renewable energy storage systems and cell phones.
Source: UNR
