‘Claim jumpers’ and quiet filings: Nye County mining disputes intensifying

By Alan Halaly Las Vegas Review-Journal

4 months ago

The Crystal Reservoir within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, ... — The Crystal Reservoir within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Amargosa Valley. The BLM recently rejected claims by Rover Metals to conduct exploratory drilling for lithium just outside of the refuge as it was likely to disturb the region’s groundwaters and cause “significant impacts” to the endangered and threatened species that live inside the refuge. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

A community member asks a question as Rover Critical Minerals hosts a town hall for residents concerned about their recent mining claims surrounding the town on June 20, 2024, in Amargosa Valley, Nevada. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

The blue pool is teeming with wildlife and greenery along the Crystal Spring as it winds its way within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on May 9, 2023, in Amargosa Valley. The BLM rejected claims by Rover Critical Minerals to conduct exploratory drilling for lithium just outside of the refuge as it was likely to disturb the region’s groundwaters and cause “significant impacts” to the endangered and threatened species that live inside the refuge. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

Amargosa Valley Town Board Chair Carolyn Allen, left, comments as Rover Critical Minerals CEO Judson Culter hosts a town hall for residents concerned about their recent mining claims surrounding the town on June 20, 2024, in Amargosa Valley, Nevada. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

Mining companies are refocusing their attention on the bone-dry desert in Nye County as the U.S. Department of the Interior considers forbidding any new mineral claims in the area for the next 20 years.

Lhoist, an existing clay mine in Amargosa Valley, quietly submitted a plan to expand its facility by 660 acres.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, a lawsuit settlement last year requires the Bureau of Land Management to tell the organization about any new proposed mining activity near Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where concerns for water and wildlife abound.

The plan was submitted in April, and the BLM should have notified the lawsuit’s plaintiffs within three days, according to the center.

A center spokesman said the organization found out about the plan only when the Amargosa Valley town board received a copy. The center does not plan to reopen litigation, he said. Neither the BLM nor Lhoist responded to requests for comment.

“The Center is deeply disappointed by BLM’s noncompliance,” center staff attorney Scott Lake wrote in a letter to the BLM’s Southern Nevada office. “Going forward, we expect prompt compliance.”

At the same time, Canada-based Rover Critical Minerals, which has been pushing its unpopular “Let’s Go Lithium” project through federal processes, has unsuccessfully asked the BLM to redact its draft plan to avoid competition, according to internal emails obtained by the center in a records request and shared with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Rover CEO Judson Culter asked the federal agency to shield the draft plan to avoid attention from “claim jumpers,” a Gold Rush-era term used to describe someone who claims mineral rights in the same area as another entity.

“We have exposure to claim jumpers staking around our most valuable claims,” Culter wrote in a February email to the BLM. “We already have one example of a claim jumper coming into the area (Marvel Lithium)…we would like to remove the Draft Plan from public record.”

Culter did not answer follow-up questions from the Review-Journal but said in an email Wednesday that Rover hopes to “provide a safe domestic (U.S.-Canada) supply of critical minerals.”

A review of the Nevada Division of Minerals’ open data site shows that an LLC called Marvel Lithium has staked at least 300 claims to minerals near Ash Meadows, compared with Rover’s about 120. It’s unclear if the LLC is connected to Marvel Tech, a lithium battery supplier based in Canada, but officials with that company also did not respond.

Concerns flare pending mineral withdrawal

These new developments are underscored by a two-year effort to ask for the suspension of all new mineral claims within a certain range of Ash Meadows, known as a “mineral withdrawal.” Ash Meadows has 12 endangered and threatened species protected by the Endangered Species Act.

A band of nonprofit leaders, local officials and the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe native to Death Valley National Park caught the attention of Nevada’s Democratic congressional delegation, which has since called on the Interior Department to issue a 20-year mineral withdrawal.

Carolyn Allen, Amargosa Valley town board chair, said Lhoist has been a better community partner than Rover.

The coalition pushing for the withdrawal isn’t as worried about the expansion, which Allen said has been in the works for seven years and relies on existing mineral claims that would not be affected by the withdrawal.

Though it’s no guarantee the company will initiate any exploratory mining like Rover has, she was shocked to learn about Marvel Lithium’s mineral claims established in 2023.

“I will not veer off that map,” Allen said of the proposed area for the withdrawal that includes public land around her town.

Contact Alan at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.