RENO, Nev. (AP) - A mining company has announced a $168,000 grant to the University of Nevada, Reno to extend a research contract for five years to study a rare desert wildflower that critics say could be harmed by plans to build a lithium mine in northern Nevada.
The Australian-based ioneer Ltd. with offices in Nevada recently spent $60,000 on a yearlong study at UNR to grow hundreds of Tiehm’s buckwheat seedlings in a campus greenhouse to determine whether it’s feasible to transplant them in the wild to bolster its limited population.
Ioneer has spent millions exploring the site about 200 miles (320 km) southeast of Reno, which it says is one of the world’s biggest undeveloped lithium-boron deposits critical to making batteries for electric cars. It’s also the only place the plant is known to exist on earth.
Ioneer managing director Bernard Rowe says they’ve been thrilled with results showing germination rates exceeding expectations and excited about the opportunity to extend the research to help ensure a sustainable buckwheat population.
The Center for Biological Diversity is fighting the mine but recently withdrew a formal challenge with the Bureau of Land Management after the company agreed to provide notice if it resumes any exploration activities.
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