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Judge Orders Waste Rock Study For GM’s Thacker Pass Lithium Mine Project

As previously reported by GM Authority, GM signed a joint investment agreement with Lithium Americas to mine the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada for lithium. Now, a U.S. judge is ordering regulators to determine if Lithium Americas has the right to dump waste products at the site of the mine.

According to a report from Reuters, Chief Judge Miranda Du of Nevada has ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to determine if the 1,300 acres where Lithium Americas is planning to dump waste products contains significant amounts of lithium.

Companies typically have a large amount of influence and control when mining on Federal property. However, a ruling last year states that miners do not necessarily have the right to dump waste rocks or build structures on the Federal property involved in the mining activity that doesn’t contain valuable minerals.

As a reminder, this joint venture will see GM invest $650 million into Lithium Americas to facilitate mining of the Thacker Pass mine, which itself is the largest known source of lithium in the U.S., and the third largest in the world. Seemingly regardless of the outcome of this new legal hurdle, extraction at the Thacker Pass mine is expected to begin sometime in the second half of 2026.

As a part of a binding agreement, GM will receive exclusive access to Phase 1 production, and will be the first company to be offered Phase 2 production. Following this investment, Lithium Americas forecasts that this project will create 1,500 jobs in total – 1,000 jobs in constriction and 500 in operations.

This recent investment is the latest in a long line of ventures General Motors has been involved in as of late. As a reminder, the Detroit-based automaker has a goal of offering 30 EVs by 2025, and to qualify for Federal tax credits, it’s establishing production of battery components domestically.

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As a typical Florida Man, Trey is a certified GM nutjob who's obsessed with anything and everything Corvette-related.

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Comments

  1. Since LITHIUM is a known Neurotoxin, the investigation is well warranted !

    Reply
  2. Nothing to see here!! Move along! Don’t worry about the mining!! Keep everyone focused on the EV future! Libtards👎👎👎

    Reply
  3. Mining is ok by libs as long as it isn’t for coal or oil! Hypocrites!

    Reply
  4. Mining is hated by tree-huggers more than drilling for oil.

    Reply
  5. “Mining for lithium is bad and liberals are hypocrites for supporting it!”
    Ah, so you agree that mining is destructive and we should stop mining for the iron, copper, and oil used to make gas cars.
    “No, I’m saying liberals are hypocrites”
    Oh, so mining isn’t bad, in which case you support mining for lithium to make EVs, in which case you agree with liberals.
    “No! Yes!.. wait, I mean”
    And then there was the soft popping noise of cognitive dissonance imploding poorly thought out hypocrisies.

    Reply
    1. I guess if you liberals want to make your car go, you’ll have to pick your poison.

      It’s just that you want it both ways, thus the typical liberal double standard.

      Pop, pop, my convoluted friend.

      Reply
  6. I don’t know why you guys always run to politics on this stuff. If this was in my backyard I would want to know what the plan is for this dangerous waste. If I lived next door to this thing and am Conservative I should turn a blind eye to the potentially of turning my well water into a toxic mess? The lithium should be mined but there needs to be procedures in place to properly handle the waste.

    Reply

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