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Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge Project Moves Toward Construction

Business Wire
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Image 1: Revised Plan Based on Stakeholder Feedback: 2020 Proposed Plan of Operations: 292.9 acres of disturbance within critical habitat before concurrent reclamation to establish functional pollinator habitat. 2.98 acres of direct impact to Tiehm’s buckwheat subpopulations. Subpopulations 4, 5, 6a, 6b, and 7 affected.(Graphic: Business Wire)
Image 1: Revised Plan Based on Stakeholder Feedback: 2020 Proposed Plan of Operations: 292.9 acres of disturbance within critical habitat before concurrent reclamation to establish functional pollinator habitat. 2.98 acres of direct impact to Tiehm’s buckwheat subpopulations. Subpopulations 4, 5, 6a, 6b, and 7 affected.(Graphic: Business Wire)
Image 2: Revised Plan Based on Stakeholder Feedback: 2022 Proposed Plan of Operations: 357.2 acres of disturbance within critical habitat before concurrent reclamation to establish functional pollinator habitat. No direct impacts to Tiehm’s buckwheat subpopulations. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Image 2: Revised Plan Based on Stakeholder Feedback: 2022 Proposed Plan of Operations: 357.2 acres of disturbance within critical habitat before concurrent reclamation to establish functional pollinator habitat. No direct impacts to Tiehm’s buckwheat subpopulations. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Image 3: Revised Plan Based on Stakeholder Feedback: 2024 Proposed Plan of Operations (current): 196.65 acres of disturbance within critical habitat before concurrent reclamation to establish functional pollinator habitat. No direct impact to Tiehm’s buckwheat subpopulations. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Image 3: Revised Plan Based on Stakeholder Feedback: 2024 Proposed Plan of Operations (current): 196.65 acres of disturbance within critical habitat before concurrent reclamation to establish functional pollinator habitat. No direct impact to Tiehm’s buckwheat subpopulations. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Release of U.S. Federal Government’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement Positions Nevada Project to Commence Operations in 2027

NORTH SYDNEY, Australia, April 15, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ioneer Ltd ("Ioneer") (ASX: INR, NASDAQ: IONR), moved one step closer toward construction at its Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron site, following the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) planned issuance of the project’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), as referenced in the BLM’s statement on 12 April 2024.1 The pending release of this draft EIS is the first to be issued from the Biden Administration as part of its efforts to accelerate domestic lithium production. It is the result of years of effective collaboration between Ioneer and federal, state and local agencies and Tribal Nations. It marks a key milestone in the environmental permitting review process for the proposed greenfield project in Esmeralda County, Nevada, set to inject a critical supply of integral transition materials into the U.S. EV battery production supply chain.

The draft document will include Ioneer’s efforts to redesign and relocate proposed project activity away from Tiehm’s buckwheat, an endangered species classified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in December 2022. The draft EIS will also detail Ioneer’s investments as part of a formal protection plan and propagation strategy for the Nevada plant.

The draft EIS will be available for public comment beginning Friday, 19 April. Reaching this stage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting process reflects federal inter-agency collaboration and agreement that the draft document is ready for public input. Following the prescribed 45-day comment period, which will include BLM-organized public meetings, the BLM will incorporate feedback into a final draft and issue a final EIS and a Record of Decision (ROD), expected in October 2024. Upon issuance of a positive ROD, construction at Rhyolite Ridge can begin following a Final Investment Decision (FID). Based on that timeline, Ioneer anticipates production to begin in 2027.

"The forthcoming release of the draft EIS represents six years of hard work to help build America’s critical minerals supply chain and reaffirms the viability of our investment in Nevada. Rhyolite Ridge will help accelerate the electric vehicle transition and secure a cleaner future for our children and grandchildren. As we move through the final steps in the federal permitting process, Ioneer will keep working to ensure this world-class project will operate efficiently and sustainably," said James Calaway, Ioneer’s Executive Chairman.

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