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  4. US DOE offers loan to Ioneer for Rhyolite Ridge

US DOE offers loan to Ioneer for Rhyolite Ridge

Published by , Editorial Assistant
Global Mining Review,

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has offered a conditional commitment to lend up to US$700 million to Ioneer Rhyolite Ridge LLC to develop a domestic supply of lithium carbonate for electric vehicle (EV) batteries from the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron project (Rhyolite Ridge) in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The project is being developed by ioneer ltd (Ioneer). If finalised, LPO’s loan to the Rhyolite Ridge project would finance the on-site processing of lithium carbonate that could potentially support production of lithium for approximately 370 000 EVs each year. This project could reduce annual gasoline consumption by nearly 145 million gallons, and prevent the release of 1.29 million t of carbon dioxide each year. The Rhyolite Ridge project is projected to create up to 600 construction jobs and approximately 250 – 300 operations jobs.

Ioneer entered into a purchase agreement in September 2021 with Sibanye Stillwater Limited (Sibanye-Stillwater), a mining and metals processing company, to establish, subject to certain conditions, a joint venture related to the Rhyolite Ridge project. Sibanye-Stillwater is a valued interested party and expected partner in the project.

The conditional commitment comes on the heels of two critical materials loans closed by LPO — Syrah Vidalia, which will process active anode material, and Ultium Cells, which will manufacture battery cells. These projects marked LPO’s first-ever loans in the critical materials sector and the most recent loans under Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program within the last decade.

Together, these projects support a broader commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration to strengthen the nation’s domestic battery supply chain and electrify the transportation sector to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and foreign supply of raw materials.

The urgency to secure critical materials for batteries is expected to rapidly increase in the coming years as demand for lithium is projected to exceed current global production by 2030. This is subsequently causing U.S. auto manufacturers to seek a robust domestic supply of critical materials to keep pace with the increased demand.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/18012023/us-doe-offers-loan-to-ioneer-for-rhyolite-ridge/

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