Submitted by Edward Bartell
I am writing in response to the recent hype in numerous newspapers about the alleged benefits the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine will contribute to Nevada’s economy. Lithium Americas Corporation (LAC), which is developing Thacker Pass, is aggressively hyping a study pointing to these alleged benefits. What LAC fails to mention is this study was conducted last year before the complete price collapse and assumes lithium prices to be more than double what they actually are.
The touted study assumes lithium prices to be $24,000 per metric ton. Yet according to dailymetalprice.com lithium prices through September 2024 were below $11,000 per metric ton. The recent hype also fails to mention that LAC’s own feasibility study indicates that when lithium prices are at $12,000 per ton, Thacker Pass has a net present value of negative $623 million.
While lithium prices skyrocketed in 2022, they have now returned to long-term levels, and Morgan Stanley is projecting a lithium oversupply through 2030. Lithium alternatives are also coming online, with China now mass-producing EV cars that rely on more environmentally friendly sodium-ion batteries, instead of lithium.
Our family ranch has the unfortunate distinction of neighboring the Thacker Pass project, and I am all too familiar with LAC’s empty promises and never-ending hype. LAC does not have the funds to actually build its Thacker Pass project but is instead seeking a massive $2.26 billion loan from the taxpayers, for phase one alone.
Following the Solyndra debacle, where a much-hyped solar company benefiting from government loans went bankrupt, safeguards were implemented to protect taxpayers. According to the Department of Energy’s own regulations, loans are barred for projects with a net present value of less than zero (10 CFR 611.101(l)). I hope the recent hype is not an effort to apply political pressure for approval of Thacker Pass loans, contrary to safeguards.
The reason for the poor economics of Thacker Pass is that it is a clay deposit. The Thacker Pass clay ore will only average about 0.3% lithium. In comparison, spodumene ore is concentrated to 6% lithium oxide, before acid treatment. The Thacker Pass ore is also tightly bonded, which requires brute force to break the bond, namely lots of energy and acid.
In phase one alone Thacker Pass will use a mind-boggling 2,900 tons of sulfuric acid a day. This sulfuric acid will be derived by importing 340,247 tons of sulfur waste annually from distant oil refineries, burning it in our community, then dumping the resulting sulfuric acid processing waste in a massive chemical waste heap on public lands.
Herein, lies more economic problems for Thacker Pass. Oil refineries are required to remove sulfur due to all the pollution it causes if we burn it in our cars. Yet, the goal of lithium mining is to render oil refineries obsolete. Incredibly, LAC’s feasibility study assumed sulfur prices will remain constant, however, if oil refineries cease to exist, sulfur will have to be mined or extracted with substantial economic and environmental costs.
LAC has hauled in hundreds of used man camp structures into Winnemucca creating a massive eyesore, and plans to build huge chemical storage vats on the opposite side of Winnemucca. Moreover, sulfuric acid leaching is known to leach and concentrate radioactive heavy metals and other toxins. 
Rather than daydreaming about hypothetical lithium dollars, governments should be ensuring sufficient bonding, in the event of LAC’s default—if government loans are not denied outright. Specifically, if toxic elements breach containment, are the taxpayers going to be on the hook in the future for cleaning up contaminated groundwater, a massive acid plant, storage vats, a rotting man camp and $2.26 billion in loans?
Edward Bartell is an Orovada rancher. His family ranch neighbors the Thacker Pass project in Humboldt County.
