Lithium miner cited for violating endangered flower habitat

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Five days after the U.S. Energy Department announced a $700 million conditional loan to an Australian mining company pursuing a lithium project in Nevada, federal land managers cited it for trespassing within the habitat of an endangered flower.

The Bureau of Land Management said in Wednesday's trespass notice to Ioneer Rhyolite Ridge LLC it has confirmed land was disturbed within the designated critical habitat for Tiehm’s buckwheat, a 6-inch-tall (15-centimeter-tall) desert wildflower with yellow blooms.

The agency said the disturbance was prohibited under a permit it issued Ioneer in November to drill for underground samples at the proposed mine site still facing environmental hurdles near the California border halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.

The Bureau of Land Management said the agency’s drilling permit required any disturbance of the land occur outside areas identified as critical habitat for the plant the Fish and Wildlife Service listed as endangered last month. The mine is intended to bolster the domestic production of a critical element in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries.

Ioneer said no plants were disturbed but acknowledged “what occurred was a violation of BLM regulatory requirements.”

“We take full responsibility for the breach and sincerely regret the inadvertent noncompliance with the permit,” Ioneer Managing Director Bernard Rowe said in a statement.

“Since day one, Ioneer has instructed our staff and contractors about the need to observe all permit conditions. We are investigating exactly how this failure occurred and we will take action to assure total compliance in the future,” he said Wednesday.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the violation could jeopardize or otherwise affect the conditional loan. The Department...