Ioneer

ioneer Ltd. () is developing a Nevada minesite to be a future producer of lithium-boron. It was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. ioneer's ASX Code is INR.
History.
In October 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted an emergency petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Tiehm’s buckwheat under the Endangered Species Act.
In January 2020, ioneer agreed to a moratorium on new activities at a planned lithium mine site. In May 2020, ioneer submitted its project plan of operations for its proposed Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada. In July 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it needed to review the site of a proposed lithium mine due to concerns about two rare plants: Tiehm’s Buckwheat and the Las Vegas Bearpoppy.
In September 2020, about 40% of the population of the rare plants were destroyed. Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said:This is an absolute tragedy. Tiehm’s buckwheat is one of the beautiful gems of Nevada’s biodiversity and some monster destroyed thousands of these irreplaceable flowering plants...This appears to have been a premeditated, somewhat organized, large-scale operation aimed at wiping out one of the rarest plants on Earth, one that was already in the pipeline for protection. It’s despicable and heartless."In a statement, Ioneer Corp. suggested that the destruction was attributable to rodents. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has said that, amid a drought, thirsty squirrels may have gnawed at the plant roots for their hydration. ioneer executive chairman James Calaway denied that the destruction was due to human activity. The Center for Biological Diversity discounted the company's and USFWS claims, citing the lack of animal droppings or tracks, suggesting the work of humans. In February 2021, Ioneer released a statement acknowledging the change of administration - one very committed to electric vehicle production to help meet climate change mitigation goals - and reported its collaboration with The Conservation Fund to protect the Rhyolite Ridge Tiehm’s buckwheat. In a broader context, the proposed mine, like several other projects, presents a "green" conundrum of mining for EV batteries to reduce fossil-fueled transport versus species and ecosystem preservation. 