Development within the Winnemucca Industrial Park is expected to take place as the Winnemucca City Council approved a lease agreement on Nov. 7 with intent by Lithium Nevada to construct a transloading terminal for the materials needed for production at their mine in Orovada.
Councilwoman Ashley Maden abstained from discussion and from voting on the request due to her former employment with Lithium Nevada.
The terminal will be located on a 177.3 acre parcel to the west of the Winnemucca Municipal Airport and have a rail spur with cars containing loads of soda ash, quick lime, off-road diesel, caustic soda, muriatic acid, and liquid sulfur that will be off loaded and then trucked approximately 70 miles to Orovada.
Lithium Nevada has stated that the selection of the site is due to the fact that it allows for those working at the site to make the appropriate amount of trips to and from the mine to the terminal, allowing employees full-time jobs.
Previous plans for the site stated that there would be soda ash and liquid sulfur stored on-site at the facility as cars bring in the materials and are then loaded onto trucks that haul the materials.
Originally, Lithium Nevada sought to purchase the land form the City, but the Council agreed that they may have more oversight of the property with a lease and rejected the bid to purchase the parcel for $960,000, well above the appraised value of $250,000 for sale, accepting the lease agreement for $7,500 per month.
The terminal is absolutely necessary for Lithium Nevada to receive the materials needed to go into production, such as liquid sulfur that is later converted into sulfuric acid on the mine site for the refining process. The term of the lease and renewals is likely to coincide with the lifetime of the mine.
Lithium Americas has secured a very large equity investment from General Motors Company (GMC) of $650 million (the first half available for construction and the second half available after production begins), committing to supply GMC with lithium carbonate used for making electric vehicle batteries for their vehicles for the next 40 years with the potential for an even longer span, according to Lithium Americas officials.
Local concern was raised during public comment at the Council meeting, mostly by residents that live near the property, that the lease agreement did not have enough protections put in place for the surrounding residents or the City, but City Attorney Kent Maher assured that the lease is standard for the actions.
Other concerns involved environmental aspects and how the air, water, and ground will be affected by the site, as Lithium Nevada will have to work with the state and federal government to get the necessary permitting and follow stringent regulations.
The Council echoed each other’s comments that the spur and terminal is an appropriate project for the Industrial Park and that careful considerations had been made in order to address many questions asked by the public throughout the approximate 10 months that the terminal has been under consideration.
“It is a hard job to sit on this side of the table and it is one that we do take seriously and we are ... often not able to make things exactly what everybody would want," said councilman Theresa Mavity. "There are factors to be considered always and we do consider them and we do ask questions. We are advised by a number of highly qualified people on these matters and we take that information seriously as do we take comments from the public seriously."