#lithiumamericas — Public Fediverse posts

Boo hiss! #Colonialism at work!

US government takes equity stake in one of the world’s largest #LithiumMines

The #Trump administration is now a significant stakeholder in the controversial mine at #ThackerPass.

by Justine Calma
Oct 1, 2025

"Donald Trump’s administration is taking a 5 percent equity ownership of mining company Lithium Americas, on top of another 5 percent stake in the company’s joint mining project with GM in Nevada, the #DepartmentOfEnergy announced yesterday. The mine at Thacker Pass is expected to become the largest producer of lithium in the Western Hemisphere once it opens in 2028.

"Lithium is a crucial component in batteries used for electric vehicles, wind and solar energy storage, and rechargeable devices of all kinds. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have sought to wean the US off foreign imports of lithium. This announcement is the latest step President Trump has taken to assert more control over domestic supply chains for key materials.

"The latest step President Trump has taken to assert more control over domestic supply chains for key materials

"The Thacker Pass mine is supposed to produce around 40,000 metric tons of #LithiumCarbonate annually for batteries once it’s fully operational. US production of lithium is currently under 5,000 metric tons. For comparison, China — the third-biggest lithium producer after Australia and Chile — already produces 40,000 metric tons annually.

"The mine has been under construction since 2023, following fierce opposition from nearby Native American tribes. Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union found that the federal government’s permitting of the mine violated Indigenous peoples’ rights in a February 2025 report, alleging it failed to obtain 'free, prior, and #InformedConsent' from affected tribes. Ranchers and environmental groups concerned about the mine’s impact on local #water sources and endangered species have also opposed the project."

Read more:
https://www.theverge.com/news/790057/lithium-mine-us-trump-us-government-stake-thacker-pass

#WaterIsLife #USPol #LithiumMining #Extortion #TrumpSucks #CorporateColonialism #Corporatocracy #LithiumAmericas #ThackerPassDefenders #ProtectPeeHeeMuhuh
#DefendTheSacred #NoLithiumMining
#StopThackerPass
#LithiumAmericasCanada #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ProtectTheSacred #LithiumGoldRush #JusticeForMyronDewey #PoliceState
#SecretSurveillance #ACAB
#IndigenousLand #IndigenousNews

#LawEnforcement's #SecretSurveillance of Defenders at #ThackerPass, Peehee Mu'huh

#LithiumAmericas of Canada plans huge man camp in Winnemucca

By @bsnorrell.blogspot.com , #CensoredNews, Updated Aug. 12, 2025

"The #BIA and #BLM were part of 10 agencies in a joint #terrorism task force stalking defenders of Peehee Mu-huh, Thacker Pass, new documents reveal. The surveillance intensified when #MyronDewey supported. The Nevada Sheriff said there could be 'another #StandingRock,' and called in a 'spin master' to discredit #WaterProtectors, as he had done at Standing Rock.

"#ProPublica and #NevadaIndependent expose the surveillance. Censored News tracks back on the timeline. Interior Sec. #DebHaaland's BIA was part of the joint terrorism task force targeting the defenders of Peehee Mu-huh."

Original story:
THACKER PASS, Nevada -- "While descendants of the survivors of the massacre of Paiutes at #PeeheeMuhuh struggled to protect the sacred remains from the digging of a lithium mine, owned by Lithium Americas on Canada -- law enforcement had a spider web of surveillance. The law enforcement surveillance of defenders of Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, began before
Myron Dewey was killed, and continued afterwards.

"ProPublica and Nevada Independent expose the spy trail of law enforcement and private security of Lithium Americas. The surveillance web of 10 agencies included the BIA, and a counter-terrorism task force.

"During a meeting in April of 2021, the sheriff met with a spinmaster who linked the resistance to Standing Rock. This was six months before Myron Dewey was killed when a truck driven by a mining
engineer [an employee of #LithiumAmericas] hit Myron head on.

"Myron was well known for his reporting and drone coverage at Standing Rock 2016--2017. Myron was livestreaming the day before he was killed near his home in #YombaNevada, Sept. 26, 2021. Myron was fighting the #USMilitary's expansion of the bombing range on his #Paiute homeland."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/law-enforcements-secret-surveillance-of.html

#JusticeForMyronDewey #PoliceState
#SecretSurveillance #ACAB
#IndigenousLand #IndigenousNews
#LandDefenders #StandWithStandingRock
#ProtectPeeHeeMuhuh
#DefendTheSacred #NoLithiumMining
#StopThackerPass #LithiumAmericas
#LithiumAmericasCanada
#LithiumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ReaderSupportedNews

Law Enforcement's Secret Surveillance of Defenders at #ThackerPass, #PeeheeMuhuh, Exposed by #ProPublica and #NevadaIndependent

#LithiumAmerica of Canada plans huge #ManCamp in #Winnemucca

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Updated July 31, 2025

THACKER PASS, #Nevada -- "While descendants of the survivors of the massacre of #Paiutes at Peehee Mu'huh struggled to protect the sacred remains from the digging of a #LithiumMine, owned by Lithium Americas on Canada -- law enforcement had a spider web of surveillance.

"The law enforcement surveillance of defenders of Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, began before #MyronDewey was killed, and continued afterwards.

"ProPublica and Nevada Independent expose the spy trail of law enforcement and private security of Lithium Americas. The surveillance web of 10 agencies included the #BIA, and a #CounterTerrorism task force.

"During a meeting in April of 2021, the sheriff met with a spinmaster who linked the resistance to #StandingRock. This was six months before Myron Dewey was killed when a truck driven by a mining
engineer hit Myron head on.

"Myron was well known for his #reporting and #drone coverage at Standing Rock 2016--2017. Myron was livestreaming the day before he was killed near his home in #YombaNevada, Sept. 26, 2021. Myron was fighting the U.S. military's expansion of the bombing range on his #Paiute homeland. The Nevada legislators were pushing hard for the expansion, which Biden signed into law. Myron had also been delivering supplies to Thacker Pass in the months before he was killed."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/07/law-enforcements-secret-surveillance-of.html

#PoliceState #SecretSurveillance #ACAB #IndigenousLand #IndigenousNews #LandDefenders #JusticeForMyronDewey #StandWithStandingRock #ProtectPeeHeeMuhuh #DefendTheSacred #NoLithiumMining #StopThackerPass #LithiumAmericas #LithiumAmericasCanada #LithiumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ReaderSupportedNews

Interior Sec. #DebHaaland's Pueblo is in the #BallisticMissile Parts Business

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Nov. 4, 2024

LAGUNA PUEBLO, New Mexico -- "Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's tribe's enterprise, #LagunaIndustries, manufactures parts for both the ballistic missile, and parts for combat jets, including the #F15. #Biden recently approved the sale of fifty F-15 jets to #Israel in a $20 billion deal.

"The discovery comes after Biden was protested at #GilaRiver Indian Community, and Interior Sec. Haaland was sued by three #Arizona tribes.

[...]

"Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's permit for lithium mining at #Hualapai ceremonial spring south of the #GrandCanyon, and her promotion of #LithiumMining now digging in to the #Paiute Massacre site, #PeeheeMuhuh, #ThackerPass in northern #Nevada, were difficult to understand. Until now.

"The lithium mining into the Paiute Massacre Site is for the benefit of big industry electric vehicles, and violates all federal laws that protect religious and historic sites, the water and environment, and endangered species. The mining operation is by #LithiumAmericas of Canada.

"The #Hualapai Tribe said Hualapai were never consulted before Haaland granted the drilling permit to the Australian company #HawkstoneMining. The Hualapai Tribe filed a federal lawsuit against Haaland.

"In a separate federal lawsuit, the #TohonoOodham and #SanCarlosApache Nations have filed a lawsuit against Haaland for the bulldozers now destroying ancient villages sites, burial places and medicine grounds in #SanPedroValley in Arizona, for #SunZia's transmission lines for a wind energy project.
The United States government is also allowing #EnergyFuels to operate a #UraniumMine in the Grand Canyon, now threatening the aquifer and poisoning Havasupai's air and ancestral homeland. The radioactive haul route to Energy Fuels uranium mill in the #WhiteMesaUte community in Utah endangers #Supai, #Paiute, #Dine' (#Navajo), #Hopi, and #Ute.

"The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, BLM, has a history of rubber stamping environmental impact statements, resulting in devastation."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/interior-sec-haalands-pueblo-is-in.html

#ReaderSupportedNews #NoWar #NoNuclearWeapons #NoLithiumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleLithium #RecycleCopper #WaterIsLife #DefendTheSacred #MotherEarth #ReaderSupportedNews
#FreePalestine #NoUraniumMining #Greenwashing #CulturalGenocide #CorporateColonialism #NoNukes #HaulNo #UraniumMining #WhiteMesaMill

The Silent Killers in #IndianCountry: #Copper, #Lithium, #Uranium and #Plutonium

Judge finds plutonium plants in #NewMexico and #SouthCarolina violated environmental laws

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Oct. 10, 2024

"The U.S. government's plan for increased plutonium production at #LosAlamos National Laboratory, in the heart of Pueblo lands in northern New Mexico, has been delayed by a federal judge.

"Continuing the U.S. legacy of poisoning Indian country with #radiation, this comes as the U.S. government is granting leases to foreign #mining companies targeting Native #sacred lands and communities.

"#CopperMining is targeting San CarlosApache's sacred #OakFlat; #Hualapai are suing the US Department of Interior to halt lithium mining at their sacred spring Ha'Kamwe'; and the U.S. government is promoting the ongoing digging into the #Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada for #lithium, in violation of all federal laws that protect Native religious and historic sites, the environment and endangered species.

"Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon threatens #Havasupai's aquifer, the haul route endangers everyone in the Four Corners region, and the uranium mill at White Mesa Ute in #Utah is poisoning #Utes.

"Interior Sec. #DebHaaland said in Farmington, N.M., that Los Alamos Labs would be the leader in the so-called '#GreenEnergy transition' in the #FourCorners region.

"More than 500 radioactive #UraniumMill sites remain on the #NavajoNation that have not been cleaned up by the U.S. #EPA, which deceives the public by announcing plans and promises to clean up the #ColdWar sites.

"In the current federal lawsuit, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled that U.S. energy officials illegally neglected to study impacts to the #environment in efforts to increase plutonium production for nuclear weapons in New Mexico and South Carolina.

"'South Carolina District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sided with environmental, #AntiNuclear proliferation and community groups last week who sued the National Nuclear Security Administration (#NNSA), which oversees the nuclear weapons stockpile as part of the U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE],' reports Source New Mexico.

"The U.S. is investing billions into restarting the manufacture of #PlutoniumPits, the grapefruit-sized spheres developed for #nuclear weapons. The plutonium is produced from uranium.

"'The federal government halted its manufacturing program at the #RockyFlatsPlant in #Colorado in 1989 after an FBI raid due to safety concerns and #EnvironmentalCrimes,' Source New Mexico reports.

"The U.S. government's #AtomicBombTesting in #Nevada left a trail of cancer and death for #WesternShoshone. The documentary 'Downwind' reveals the truth.

"'This is a very serious issue and that's why I can't let it go. I can't move on. People say, 'oh, why don't you just let it go?' Because it's killing my family. It's killing my land. It's killing my people. And that will not stand. It's being done in secret. And killing Indians in secret will not stand,' said Ian Zabarte, Principal Man of the Western Bands of the #ShoshoneNation of Indians. Zabarte is featured in '#Downwind' about radiation poisoning from U.S. #NuclearTests.

"Currently, foreign companies -- which receive the profits and find it easy to avoid clean up and responsibility for #environmental crimes and deaths from #cancer -- are receiving the mining leases from the U.S. government. The leases are granted by the U.S. Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and in the case of #UraniumMining in the #GrandCanyon, it is the USDA's Forestry Service. #Biden's attorneys have joined the lawsuit with #RioTinto to devastate #OakFlat.

"Australian and Canadian mining corporations are devastating Native lands and communities, poisoning the water and causing widespread cancer.
Rio Tinto, targeting Apaches #OakFlat, is an Australian company which destroyed 46,000 years of #Aboriginal sacred history in caves in #Australia.

"Another Australian mining company is targeting #Hualapai's sacred site. It is #Hawstone / #ArizonaLithium, in Perth, Australia.

"#EnergyFuels, now uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and operating the uranium mill at #WhiteMesaUte, is a Canadian company. Another Canadian company is digging into the #Paiute Massacre Site. It is #LithiumAmericas.
#Hopi judge #DianeHumetewa granted a temporary restraining order to halt the lithium mining at #Hualapai's sacred spring."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-silent-killers-in-indian-country.html

#NoUraniumMining #CopperMining #LithiumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #EnvironmentalRacism #NoWar #NoNukes #NuclearWeapons #RecycleCopper #RecycleLithium #WaterIsLife #NuclearWaste #DefendTheSacred #WhiteMesaMill #Ute #AtomicBomb #CulturalGenocide #Genocide #FirstNations #NativeAmericanNews #SuperfundSites #ToxicWaste #SaveOakFlat #OpenPitMining #Pollution #ReaderSupportedNews

#FortMcDermitt Tribal Leader Choked Youth During #LithiumAmericas Community Meeting

Crutcher attempted to pressure Jimmy into deleting portions of the meeting. Dorece Sam said that was not going to happen because it was a live broadcast

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News
Video by Young Warrior

"A Fort McDermitt tribal leader attacked a minor and choked him. The youth was videotaping a public community meeting being held about financial benefits from lithium mining by Lithium Americas, now digging into the Paiute Massacre Site in northern Nevada.

"The incident was broadcast on #KPFK Los Angeles. It occurred during the quarterly meeting with Lithium Americas and #FortMcDermittTribalCouncil, on Monday, Jan. 8.
During the meeting, Arlo Crutcher, former chairman of Fort McDermitt #Paiute #Shoshone, walked across the conference room where tribal youth Jimmy, a minor, was videotaping."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/01/fort-mcdermitt-tribal-leader-choked.html#more

Link to video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jWAKwPbb0U

#LithiumMining #PauiteShoshone #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism
#WaterIsLife #CulturalGenocide
#OpenPitMining #StopThackerPass #ThackerPass

Battle of #LithiumMining at #Paiute Massacre Site Links Struggles Against #Greenwashing Around the World

By Brenda Norrell, #CensoredNews
December 6, 2023

"The struggle to protect #PeeheeMuhuh, #ThackerPass, from lithium mine links the #global struggles of uncontacted #Indonesians battling #nickel mining, child slaves in #Congo's #cobalt mines, and the peoples' battles against lithium mining in #Serbia and #Argentina. They are all battling the greenwashing of the false solution of #electricvehicles for #ClimateChange.

"The desecration of the sacred Paiute Massacre site by #LithiumAmericas of Canada is proceeding because federal laws do not protect massacre sites. Further, a man camp of lithium miners threatens the rural communities of #FortMcDermitt Paiute #Shoshone Nation, and the town of #Winnemucca with crime, specifically sex trafficking.

"Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, #RenoSparks Indian Colony Chairman Arlan Melendez called for a new mobilization of #PeacefulProtests that will bring awareness to the public about the ongoing desecration to the sacred place and the damage to the #environment. He called for support from #SouthDakota and elsewhere to bring this desecration to the forefront.

"'We lost the lawsuit because the law favors #mining, especially in this state,' Chaimrnan Melendez said.
'Without water, there is no life,' said Dean Barlese, #PyramidLakePaiute, who offered the opening traditional prayer honoring all created things, all sacred creation. 'We're teaching our young people these prayer songs.'

"'Our songs are still out there on the land.'

"Chairman Melendez said they are concerned about the crime that the mine will bring to Fort McDermitt region, in a rural area, including man camps, especially with the concern for missing and murdered women.
The lithium boom is like the gold rush, the whole state has lithium deposits, and #Nevada's 28 bands and tribes are sure to be affected. Already, sacred sites are being desecrated by lithium mining.
Chairman Melendez said the strategy is to mobilize tribes to speak with a louder voice so that the people will understand the devastation."

Read more: https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/12/battle-of-lithium-mining-at-paiute.html

#MMIW #EnvironmentalRacism #CorporateColonialism #WaterIsLife #Mining #OpenPitMining #StopThackerPass

Group outraged as controversial mining project breaks ground on site of massacre: ‘[We] were not consulted’

Rick Kazmer
Sun, November 19, 2023

"A lithium mine is being constructed on #Nevada land that’s culturally important to #NativeAmericans. The project by #LithiumAmericas is at #ThackerPass, where on Sept. 12, 1865, United States soldiers massacred Native Americans, killing up to 50 people, according to the Guardian.

"Now, 158 years later, the Thacker Pass area has been identified as having the country’s largest #lithium lode. But members of tribal communities who consider the land sacred told the Guardian that they have been left out of the discussion as the operation moves forward, a point contested by the company on its website.

“'All the people here on the reservation were not consulted when this mine was approved,' Dorece Sam, a descendant of one of three survivors of the massacre, told the newspaper.
Why is lithium important?

"Lithium is a key part of #batteries that power electric vehicles #EVs and other tech. Much of it is refined on the other side of the world, with Australia and China among the leaders. The U.S., however, is among the global leaders in underground lithium reserves, with more than 13 million tons, according to Visual Capitalist, an online data collector.

"Proponents of mining the untapped U.S. reserve cite the need to gain independence from China for lithium and other metals, a goal marked at the highest level of our government.

"LithiumMining, however, can be invasive. Native Americans interviewed by the Guardian said that since it’s happening on sacred land, it’s an invasion of the highest order.

"'You can’t blow up a mountain and call it green,' Max Wilbert of Protect Thacker Pass said in a press release quoted on the Sacred Land Film Project website.

What’s the impact?

"Mining at Thacker Pass is projected to use about 1.7 billion gallons of #water, producing more than 66,000 tons of lithium a year, per the Guardian.

"Company officials claim on their website that the project has been planned for a decade with input from tribal leaders. They plan to permanently employ 500 people for at least 40 years, generating $8 billion in tax payments during the mine’s lifetime.

"At least two tribes have lawsuits filed against the project. However, tribal historic preservation officer Michon Eben told the Guardian that activity on the land is already disturbing.

"'So, if any tribes or anybody wanted to mitigate that destruction, what are we going to mitigate?' Eben said to the newspaper, noting frustration with the court system.
What’s being done to help?

"#Noninvasive lithium mining, or alternatives to the metal for use in batteries, is in the works in labs worldwide. The right solution could eliminate the need for #mining, or lithium, altogether.

"To help Native Americans protect Thacker Pass, you can research their story. The #SacredLandFilmProject has several ways to help, including #fundraising, calling #media and #officials, and sharing the story on #SocialMedia to highlight the cause."

Article source: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/group-outraged-controversial-mining-project-110000784.html

Link to Sacred Land film project:
https://sacredland.org/thacker_pass/

Take action:
https://www.protectthackerpass.org/take-action/

#StopThackerPass #CulturalGenocide #OpenPitMining #ProtectPeeheeMuhuh #LithiumNevada #NativeAmericanHistory

Now! #Pauite Blocking #LithiumMine Construction at #ThackerPass, Nevada

Protect Peehee Mu'huh!

April 25, 2023

"#FortMcDermitt and #PyramidLake Pauite are offering prayers, and blocking construction by #LithiumAmericas of Canada at the Pauite Massacre Site in northern Nevada."

#NativeAmericans #IndigenousNews #StopThackerPass

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/04/now-paiute-blocking-lithium-mine.html

Construction begins on controversial #lithium mine in #Nevada

Opponents say the Thacker Pass lithium project was rushed in the name of the green transition.

by Gabriela Aoun Angueira, March 3, 2023

"'It’s an important place not only because a terrible massacre occurred, but also because it’s a place where people gather, it’s a place for ceremony, for hunting,' said Michon Eben, tribal historic preservation officer for the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, a government that includes members from the the #Paiute, #Shoshone and #Washoe tribes. The colony is advocating for Peehee Mu’huh to be on the National Register of Historic Places. 'It’s really hard to be a tribal member and see our homelands destroyed,' said Eben.

"#ThackerPass also comprises thousands of acres of #sagebrush and is a nesting ground for the sage grouse and a migration corridor for pronghorn #antelope. Environmental groups including the Great Basin Resource Watch and Western Watersheds Project say the mine would cause irreversible #ecological damage, and that the project’s impact was not adequately studied.

"'It got by the environmental impact statement process in just under a year and I would expect a project of this scale and complexity to take 3 to 5 years,' said John Hadder, director of Great Basin Resource Watch. 'That’s sloppy permitting on the side of the federal government.'

"Tribes, #environmental groups and a cattle rancher are all plaintiffs in a combined case against the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, and #LithiumNevada, a subsidiary of #LithiumAmericas. On February 6, a federal judge in Reno ruled that the BLM had complied with federal law in approving the mine, with the exception of one matter regarding waste disposal, which the judge ordered the BLM to revisit. The plaintiffs filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit and an emergency motion to block construction before the appeal hearing. The appeals court rejected the injunction and set the hearing date for June. "

https://grist.org/climate-energy/construction-begins-lithium-mine-nevada-controversial/

#PeeheeMuhuh #NotGreen #EnvironmentalRacism #NativeAmericans