City council approves consideration of proposal to diversify economy with transloading terminal
Transloading helps transfer cargo from one method of transportation to another and allows large quantities of materials to be transported for the majority of the shipment’s journey by more cost-effective and environmentally responsible means.
Lithium Nevada presented a proposal to the Winnemucca City Council at their regular meeting on Jan. 10 to consider the purchase or lease of a 177. 31 acre parcel near the Winnemucca Municipal Airport in order to build a transloading terminal for materials to be transferred from rail to trucks.
The proposal was approved by the Council, with all members present and Councilman Vince Mendiola present via web-call.
“One of the things in the last 20 years that has been highlighted as a need for our community is a transloading facility,” explained Mayor Rich Stone.
Mayor Stone assured that this step in the process is preliminary and it will be many more months until a final decision is reached as to whether the terminal will actually be built. The approval of the proposal allows the City to have the parcel appraised and for Lithium Nevada to conduct impact studies to determine expediency.
Based on preparatory plans for the layout of the terminal, there will be almost six miles of rail, designed so that trains are able to pull off of the main rail line, transfer materials to the trucks, and pull back onto the main line efficiently, costing Lithium Nevada approximately $60 million in capital investments.
Tom Karres, a Chemical Engineer for Lithium Nevada, presented the proposal to the Council and explained that Lithium Nevada would be willing to partner with another company who would like to use the transloading terminal on the eastern parcel, adjacent to the western parcel.
“An additional partner would be able to move in and also make use of this rail siding that we’ll have here. We would love to be able to partner with someone in the future on something like that,” explained Karres.
A partnership with the transloading could bring other economy-stimulating business to Humboldt County, creating a transportation hub and potentially keeping hundreds of trucks off of roads and Highways, positively impacting road maintenance, congestion and fuel emissions.
According to Karres, soda ash, quick lime, off-road diesel, caustic soda solution, liquid sulfur (not to be confused with sulfuric acid), and hydrochloric acid, will be transloaded from the potential terminal. The materials will be securely loaded onto trucks and transported approximately 70 miles to the Thacker Pass site in Orovada, NV.
Karres also said that there will be a silo store extra soda ash and a week’s worth of liquid sulfur for the Thacker Pass site stored at the terminal. Amongst the storage will also be about 18,000 square feet of facilities for unloading and offices. Estimations determined that there will be about 39 trucks coming and going per day during the terminal’s operation hours.
“We have looked at a number of other potential locations for this transload terminal. This one, for us and for the community, we believe, is the best location,” said Karres.
Public comment spurned questions regarding noise and light pollution, smells from the materials, dust, location and safety hazards associated with the materials that will be stored.
“Our primary concerns and goals as we’ve designed the layout of this facility are no dusting, not minimum, but no dusting, no smell, and minimizing light pollution— we’re very concerned about that. We fully support the dark skies initiative and plan to minimize noise,” explained Karres.
Karres assured that approval of the proposal allows Lithium Nevada to address concerns raised by the community and evaluate the feasibility of the location further.
“We would like to come back and provide a whole lot more information on exactly how we hope to accomplish these plans, obviously, in a safe and environmentally friendly manner,” said Karres.