A bird’s eye view shows current dirt work and delivery of initial units for the Winnemucca Workforce Hub constructed by Lithium Americas that has taken place.
With an estimated 1997 people set to be working on the Thacker Pass lithium mine site throughout construction, Lithium Americas is constructing a temporary workforce hub in East Winnemucca, with the first units having arrived in October and the final units expected to arrive in February 2024.
The noticeable construction began in January and will hopefully be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to Lithium officials.
Lithium Nevada Vice President of Government & Community Relations Tim Crowley and Lithium Nevada Project Manager Offsites & Non-process ISBLs Pat Strike visited the Humboldt County Board of Commissioners to update the Board on the current state of construction and other various aspects of the future workforce hub. Commissioner Mark Evatz was present via web-call.
The facility itself will be a singular building rather than individual units with dorm-style rooms, housekeeping and full meal accommodations to each person, according to officials, and will have local employment potential for the management of the facility, maintenance, housekeeping services, food services, security and more. The facility will also be completely temporary and will be deconstructed after the local housing market catches up.
Commissioner Tom Hoss told Crowley that the hub is a “monstrosity” and questioned Lithium Nevada’s obligations to keep their workforce housed in order not to strain the local infrastructure as their number of anticipated workers has continued to grow.
Pictured is the design rendering for the Winnemucca Workforce Hub constructed by Lithium Americas for the temporary building located in East Winnemucca.
“We’ve purchased this land and we’ve purchased this facility and our intent is to make sure that we keep it in place as long as we can to allow for the Winnemucca housing market to adjust to the change in this community,” said Crowley. “So we’re not we’re not planning to decommission this until we know that our workforce has a bed to sleep in and that includes our permanent workforce. As we hire operators in 2026 when we’re in production they may not be able to find a house but they will have a place to live, which may not be ideal, but it’s still a place that will work.”
“It will allow builders in this community to know what the market looks like and build at a pace that accommodates growth,” said Crowley.
Commissioner Jesse Hill raised important questions about where the workers will come from and the strain this is likely to put on the community workforce with the unemployment rate sitting steadily at three percent.
“Hiring local first is a great concept… but have you thought about the impact that will have on contractors such as myself, the local businesses, the local restaurants?” he said.
Crowley explained that Lithium Nevada is also concerned about the impacts and said that they have done a project labor agreement that will source skilled trade unions to furnish the workers that they will need and the intent is not to “steal” workforce from Winnemucca.
According to Corwley, further construction and various aspects are dependent on the securement of a $700 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) until the mine is in production, which Crowley said is fully expected to come through.
Other features of the workforce housing will include a commercial kitchen and dining facility, a convenience store-style lunch bag-up room, a commissary and lounge area, and a fitness center, which will all be closed to the public, only available to the workers.
The camp is also going to be a “damp camp,” according to Strike, meaning that alcohol will be allowed at the hub but not provided.
Crowley explained that the occupancy of the hub will also increase and decrease gradually, corresponding to the ebbs and flows of construction pending to the DOE loan and that peak occupancy is expected in March of 2026.
The workers will also be working in three week shifts, 10 hours a day not including travel to and from the mine site. Crowley said that he anticipates many of the workers returning home to their family during off time.
After the decommission of the workforce hub, estimated to happen sometime after construction winds down in 2027 based off of Lithium America’s preliminary projections, Crowley also explained that a buy back agreement has been made for the land that the workforce hub sits on and for the facility itself, so the landowner and the facility manufacturer will buy back each of them.
Commissioner Ron Cerri asked that Lithium be mindful of the traffic impacts and that transportation pools be implemented as soon as possible to cut down on traffic congestion, especially on Highway 95.
Strike assured that even the contractors hired for construction are already utilizing van transportation to alleviate traffic from Winnemucca out to the mine site.
Commissioner Cerri, an Orovada resident, said that he feels Lithium Nevada has honored many of the commitments that they have made to the Orovada community.
“I think we’re doing as good as we can do there,” said Cerri.