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155-509: Fortescue is a global metal mining company headquartered in Australia. Fortescue focused on iron ore mining under the name of Fortescue Metals Group ( FMG ) until July 2023. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of more than 87,000 km in the Pilbara region of Western Australia , making it the largest tenement holder in

310-574: A Record of Decision approving development of the mine in January 2021. Construction began in March 2023 after an emergency appeal was denied by the court. The project site would cover 18,000 acres (7,300 ha), with less than 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) of that being mined, on a site 21 miles (34 km) west-northwest of Orovada, Nevada within the McDermitt Caldera . The mine is

465-510: A joint venture to build a green hydrogen equipment manufacturing facility in Aldoga, Queensland . The first stage, due for completion in 2022, is expected to double the world's green hydrogen capacity. When the plant is completed, it is expected to be the largest of its type in the world. Also in October 2021, Fortescue Future Industries and Incitec Pivot announced a feasibility study for

620-512: A magistrate judge ordered that if People of Red Mountain failed to obtain counsel by May 2, 2022, the court will recommend that their claims be dismissed. No new counsel had appeared before the court by that date, resulting in a magistrate judge issuing a Report and Recommendation to dismiss the group's claims without prejudice. On April 4, 2022, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Burns Paiute Tribe dropped their appeal to

775-625: A Plan of Operations for its proposed lithium clay mining development project with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal mining regulator. In January 2020, the company announced the publication of a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Thacker Pass lithium project. On January 15, 2021, BLM issued their Record of Decision approving the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine. Opponents of

930-535: A break-off group to divide the local Yindjibarndi community during negotiations for access to traditional Yinjibarndi land for the planned $ 8.5 billion Solomon Hub project. While the law firm admitted FMG has put compensation money up, it said it was insufficient in comparison with the profits that will be made from this mine on the client's traditional land, as well as the royalty (tax) amounts that have been paid to non-Aboriginal people. In 2021 negotiations over an Indigenous Land Use Agreement failed, and as of May 2022

1085-499: A committee of Fort McDermitt Tribal members calling themselves People of Red Mountain intervened in the lawsuits. People of Red Mountain is not a federally recognized tribe so it has no legal standing. The tribes are demanding consultation under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act . The Fort McDermitt Tribal Council initially had a project engagement agreement with Lithium Americas but

1240-465: A concern as well, and where enforced, modern practices have significantly improved safety in mines. Unregulated, poorly regulated or illegal mining , especially in developing economies , frequently contributes to local human rights violations and environmental conflicts . Mining can also perpetuate political instability through resource conflicts . Since the beginning of civilization, people have used stone , clay and, later, metals found close to

1395-467: A fifty-kilometre extension to the existing Port Hedland to Cloudbreak rail line was completed to transport the ore to Cloudbreak. The first ore-processing facility (OPF) was commissioned at Christmas Creek in April 2011 with a second OPF commissioned in 2012. As part of the second expansion, a number of additional infrastructure projects were completed, including a 6.3-kilometre (3.9 mi) overland conveyor,

1550-447: A global rush for critical minerals like lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper could violate their basic rights and endanger their local ecologies and cultural heritage. Some international frontline communities affected by mining have called for a just transition that would prevent or minimise this damage to Indigenous cultures and the environment. Thacker Pass is the traditional homeland of several related Indigenous nations, including

1705-636: A hopper and a shaking screen or trommel which frees the desired minerals from the waste gravel. The minerals are then concentrated using sluices or jigs. Large drills are used to sink shafts, excavate stopes, and obtain samples for analysis. Trams are used to transport miners, minerals and waste. Lifts carry miners into and out of mines, and move rock and ore out, and machinery in and out, of underground mines. Huge trucks, shovels and cranes are employed in surface mining to move large quantities of overburden and ore. Processing plants use large crushers, mills, reactors, roasters and other equipment to consolidate

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1860-494: A lawsuit challenging the BLM's permitting of the project, claiming threats to sage grouse habitat, old growth sagebrush, golden eagle nests, endemic springsnails , and Endangered Species Act–listed Lahontan cutthroat trout, bighorn sheep , and pygmy rabbits . These opponents of the mine have claimed that the review process was rushed and that the public input process was questionable. Regional Indigenous tribes have intervened in

2015-883: A mass of actual rock. Both types of ore deposit, placer or lode, are mined by both surface and underground methods. Some mining, including much of the rare earth elements and uranium mining , is done by less-common methods, such as in-situ leaching : this technique involves digging neither at the surface nor underground. The extraction of target minerals by this technique requires that they be soluble, e.g., potash , potassium chloride , sodium chloride , sodium sulfate , which dissolve in water. Some minerals, such as copper minerals and uranium oxide , require acid or carbonate solutions to dissolve. Explosives in Mining Explosives have been used in surface mining and sub-surface mining to blast out rock and ore intended for processing. The most common explosive used in mining

2170-426: A mining operation. Once the analysis determines a given ore body is worth recovering, development begins to create access to the ore body. The mine buildings and processing plants are built, and any necessary equipment is obtained. The operation of the mine to recover the ore begins and continues as long as the company operating the mine finds it economical to do so. Once all the ore that the mine can produce profitably

2325-503: A more sustainable future, the demand for metals is set to skyrocket. Between 2022 and 2050, an estimated 7 billion metric tons of metals will need to be extracted. Steel will account for the largest portion of this total at 5 billion tons, followed by aluminum at 950 million tons, copper at 650 million tons, graphite at 170 million tons, nickel at 100 million tons, and other metals. Notably, the energy expenditure required to extract these metals will soon surpass that of coal mining, highlighting

2480-589: A new ammonium nitrate production plant in Brisbane . The plant would use PEM electrolysers to generate hydrogen to produce ammonium nitrate, mainly used as fertiliser and as a component in explosives, replacing the conventional manufacturing process which uses natural gas. In November 2021 it was announced that Fortescue Future Industries would build a plant in Río Negro Province , Argentina, that initially in 2024 would produce 600 MW of green hydrogen

2635-514: A new airstrip, an expansion of the power plant and increasing capacity at the operations village to 1,600 rooms. In January 2013, Fortescue awarded Macmahon Holdings a $ 1.8 billion mining services contract for its Christmas Creek mine expansion. The Christmas Creek expansion increases the capacity of the Chichester operations to 95 million tons a year, and was a key component of the company's 155-million-tonne-a-year expansion plans. Located in

2790-415: A project of Lithium Nevada, LLC , a wholly owned subsidiary of Lithium Americas Corp. In late January 2023, car giant General Motors announced it would invest $ 650M in the mine project, giving GM exclusive access to the first phase of production. In February 2023, when the initial $ 320 million investment was completed, GM became Lithium Americas largest shareholder and offtake partner. At full capacity

2945-791: A road and railway to an existing port of Owendo . The initial quantity of ore to be exported is 2 million tonnes of ore per year. In 2017 Fortescue announced they were looking to diversify their portfolio by exploring for metals and minerals in South America and other parts of Australia. Gold , copper and lithium were highlighted as commodities of interest. "We continue to undertake early-stage, low-cost exploration on copper gold prospective tenements in South Australia and New South Wales and have assessed high-potential, early-stage exploration tenements in Ecuador , where Fortescue

3100-492: A series of announcements that Fortescue had entered into "binding agreements" with three significant Chinese state-owned entities to build and finance infrastructure for the company. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission took legal action against FMG and Forrest. Although an initial ruling by Justice John Gilmour in 2009 found Forrest hadn't acted in a misleading or deceptive manner, Chief Justice Patrick Keane and judges Arthur Emmett and Raymond Finkelstein of

3255-408: A strong inducement to extract these metals or to lease the deposits and collect royalties from mine operators. English, German , and Dutch capital combined to finance extraction and refining . Hundreds of German technicians and skilled workers were brought over; in 1642 a colony of 4,000 foreigners was mining and smelting copper at Keswick in the northwestern mountains. Use of water power in

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3410-472: A visibly upset Yindjibarndi elder testified before the Federal Court that Fortescue Metals Group had "stolen" and "destroyed" Yindjibarndi land. Yindjibarndi elder Stanley Warrie wept as he directed Federal Court judge Stephen Burley to observe the red land, now marred by Fortescue’s large metal pipes on the outskirts of its iron ore pit. Warrie told the Federal Court “Fortescue has stolen the land...This

3565-588: A year, rising to 15GW by 2030. In March 2022, Fortescue Future Industries acquired UK-based Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), now rebranded as Fortescue Zero. As part of this acquisition, Fortescue and WAE will jointly develop the world first, zero emission electric Infinity Train that charges itself using the Earth's gravitational force . In July 2023 Fortescue Metals Group and Fortescue Future Industries were combined to form Fortescue. In late 2004 and early 2005, Fortescue chairman and then-CEO Andrew Forrest made

3720-499: A year. The new mine is expected to have an 18-year lifespan and will be funded from the company's cash flow. The project is expected create 1,900 construction jobs and 500 permanent full-time positions with production expected to commence in 2020. The Eliwana mine is part of Fortescue's strategy to move to a 60 per cent iron-grade product. Scheduled to open 2022, the Iron Bridge mine , located 145 kilometres south of Port Hedland,

3875-651: Is ammonium nitrate . Between 1870 and 1920, in Queensland Australia, an increase in mining accidents lead to more safety measures surrounding the use of explosives for mining. In the United States of America, between 1990 and 1999, about 22.3 billion kilograms of explosives were used in mining quarrying and other industries; Moreover " coal mining used 66.4%, nonmetal mining and quarrying 13.5%, metal mining 10.4%, construction 7.1%, and all other users 2.6%". Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

4030-811: Is a blanket term for a type of subsistence mining involving a miner who may or may not be officially employed by a mining company but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually by hand. While there is no completely coherent definition for ASM, artisanal mining generally includes miners who are not officially employed by a mining company and use their own resources to mine. As such, they are part of an informal economy . ASM also includes, in small-scale mining, enterprises or individuals that employ workers for mining, but who generally still use similar manually-intensive methods as artisanal miners (such as working with hand tools). In addition, ASM can be characterized as distinct from large-scale mining (LSM) by less efficient extraction of pure minerals from

4185-456: Is a byproduct from oil refineries , and may be sourced from as far away as the Alberta oil sands . The facility would produce 5,800 tons of sulfuric acid per day, requiring 75 semi-trucks of molten sulfur to be delivered daily from Winnemucca . Burning the sulfur to produce sulfuric acid is an exothermic reaction, allowing the plant to generate most of its own electricity. After the slurry

4340-506: Is dependent on investment, labor, energy, refining, and transportation cost. Mining operations can create a negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the world's nations have passed regulations to decrease the impact; however, the outsized role of mining in generating business for often rural, remote or economically depressed communities means that governments often fail to fully enforce such regulations. Work safety has long been

4495-476: Is done by removing surface vegetation, dirt, and bedrock to reach buried ore deposits. Techniques of surface mining include: open-pit mining , which is the recovery of materials from an open pit in the ground; quarrying , identical to open-pit mining except that it refers to sand, stone and clay; strip mining , which consists of stripping surface layers off to reveal ore underneath; and mountaintop removal , commonly associated with coal mining, which involves taking

4650-587: Is expected to triple over the next 5 years, increase tenfold by 2030, and potentially increase 50-fold by 2040. The US government is concerned that, as of 2021, almost all the lithium used in the US is imported, which the Department of Energy says is a "strategic vulnerability". The Biden administration policy sees the United States securing a larger share of the lithium-battery supply chain through “safe, equitable and sustainable domestic mining ventures”. While

4805-612: Is extra). The railway is available to other miners for a fee. Atlas Exports has signed a commercial agreement to use the line and port. The railway parallels another iron ore railway, the BHP Billiton railway, for over 100 kilometres (62 mi). Fortescue had sought access to use this line, but BHP declined. The FMG railway uses the up-to-date electronically controlled pneumatic brakes for all its rolling stock. As of June 2018 Fortescue has an operating fleet of seven ore carriers with an eighth currently in construction. Four of

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4960-613: Is mining upward, creating a sloping underground room, long wall mining , which is grinding a long ore surface underground, and room and pillar mining, which is removing ore from rooms while leaving pillars in place to support the roof of the room. Room and pillar mining often leads to retreat mining , in which supporting pillars are removed as miners retreat, allowing the room to cave in, thereby loosening more ore. Additional sub-surface mining methods include hard rock mining , bore hole mining, drift and fill mining, long hole slope mining, sub level caving, and block caving . Heavy machinery

5115-484: Is much more common, and produces, for example, 85% of minerals (excluding petroleum and natural gas) in the United States, including 98% of metallic ores. Targets are divided into two general categories of materials: placer deposits , consisting of valuable minerals contained within river gravels, beach sands, and other unconsolidated materials ; and lode deposits , where valuable minerals are found in veins, in layers, or in mineral grains generally distributed throughout

5270-479: Is my religion, and it’s been destroyed, my stories, my life. Yindjibarndi land is where my religion is.” During the court case, a senior Yindjibarndi person testified that the land had been so disturbed that it no longer attracted birds, flora, fauna, and sources of traditional food. When asked why, the traditional owner pointed to a mine processing site and stated, “You can see what’s happening here, this infrastructure.” He further explained that trucks and cars used at

5425-413: Is not of immediate interest to the miner. The total movement of ore and waste constitutes the mining process. Often more waste than ore is mined during the life of a mine, depending on the nature and location of the ore body. Waste removal and placement is a major cost to the mining operator, so a detailed characterization of the waste material forms an essential part of the geological exploration program for

5580-582: Is planned to operate for 46 years, with the first 20 years removing material above the water table , with Lithium Americas intending to conduct studies over a decade on the water flows around the pit in hopes of proposing a safe method for mining below the water table (for which they are not yet permitted to conduct.) Development of the lithium mine is driven by increasing demand for lithium used in electric vehicle batteries and for grid storage of intermittently generated electricity from sources such as solar power or wind power . As of 2021 lithium demand

5735-427: Is projected to produce 22 million tonnes of high-grade 67% magnetite per annum. The project is a joint venture between Fortescue and Formosa Steel , with Baosteel as a minority share holder. The project suffered from cost explosion, with the latest projection of A$ 4.87 billion being 30 per cent higher than the original estimate. BC Iron is a much smaller mining company with iron ore deposits at Nullagine . In 2009,

5890-605: Is proposed to be a carbon-neutral operation, generating electric power from a sulfuric acid plant built on-site to leach lithium from the extracted ore. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the mine estimated Phase 2 emissions at an equivalent of 132,000 tons per year of CO2 with an additional 20,000 tons of emissions generated off-site by raw material transportation. The FEIS says approximately 200,000 tons per year of CO2e emissions are avoided in off-site power generation in Phase 2 by producing carbon-free electricity at

6045-404: Is reacted with sulfuric acid, it will be pressed through filters which separate the elemental lithium solution, and then processed into lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide for batteries. The tailings will then be returned to the pit. (The mine will use a process called "block mining", whereby previously excavated sections get filled with tailings as the operation progresses.) The mine

6200-584: Is recovered, reclamation can begin, to make the land used by the mine suitable for future use. Technical and economic challenges notwithstanding, successful mine development must also address human factors. Working conditions are paramount to success, especially with regard to exposures to dusts, radiation, noise, explosives hazards, and vibration, as well as illumination standards. Mining today increasingly must address environmental and community impacts, including psychological and sociological dimensions. Thus, mining educator Frank T. M. White (1909–1971), broadened

6355-599: Is the largest producer of diamonds in Africa, with an estimated 12 million carats in 2019. Other types of mining reserves in Africa include cobalt , bauxite , iron ore , coal, and copper . Gold and coal mining started in Australia and New Zealand in the 19th century. Nickel has become important in the economy of New Caledonia . In Fiji , in 1934, the Emperor Gold Mining Company Ltd. established operations at Vatukoula , followed in 1935 by

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6510-423: Is to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the financial viability, the technical and financial risks, and the robustness of the project. This is when the mining company makes the decision whether to develop the mine or to walk away from the project. This includes mine planning to evaluate the economically recoverable portion of the deposit, the metallurgy and ore recoverability, marketability and payability of

6665-419: Is used in mining to explore and develop sites, to remove and stockpile overburden, to break and remove rocks of various hardness and toughness, to process the ore, and to carry out reclamation projects after the mine is closed. Bulldozers, drills, explosives and trucks are all necessary for excavating the land. In the case of placer mining , unconsolidated gravel, or alluvium , is fed into machinery consisting of

6820-561: The Bureau of Indian Affairs , the tribal council and colony residents. On March 11, 2022, the District Court of Nevada denied the Winnemucca Indian Colony's motion to intervene in the lawsuits. Judge Du ruled that the motion was untimely, prejudicial to other parties and that Winnemucca Indian Colony should have acted much sooner if they believed their interests might be adversely affected. In March 2022,

6975-521: The Greek author Diodorus Siculus , who mentions fire-setting as one method used to break down the hard rock holding the gold . One of the complexes is shown in one of the earliest known mining maps. The miners crushed the ore and ground it to a fine powder before washing the powder for the gold dust known as the dry and wet attachment processes. Mining in Europe has a very long history. Examples include

7130-597: The Pilbara region of Western Australia , the Chichester Hub and Solomon Hub. Plans to develop a third, Western Hub were as of 2017 in developmental stage. In 2017 Fortescue started exploration of possible mining tenements in South America and other parts of Australia. FMG engages professional lobbyists to represent their interests to parliaments in multiple jurisdictions. In South Australia , they are represented by Spring Street Advisory Pty Ltd. Located in

7285-517: The argentiferous galena in the mines of Cartagena ( Cartago Nova ), Linares ( Castulo ), Plasenzuela and Azuaga , among many others. Spain was one of the most important mining regions, but all regions of the Roman Empire were exploited. In Great Britain the natives had mined minerals for millennia , but after the Roman conquest , the scale of the operations increased dramatically, as

7440-836: The greenstone of the Langdale axe industry based in the English Lake District . The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Ngwenya Mine in Eswatini (Swaziland) , which radiocarbon dating shows to be about 43,000 years old. At this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre . Mines of a similar age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons and tools. Ancient Egyptians mined malachite at Maadi . At first, Egyptians used

7595-449: The 'Protect Thacker Pass' camp, supported by DGR funding, to oppose construction of the lithium mine. Mine opponents have concerns about the lack of free, prior, and informed Indigenous consent for the project; destruction of sacred sites and hunting and gathering areas; and greenwashing of the project. On April 10, 2021, over 60 people from different reservations in the region came to Thacker Pass to demonstrate their opposition to

7750-457: The 21st century begins, a globalized mining industry of large multinational corporations has arisen. Peak minerals and environmental impacts have also become a concern. Different elements, particularly rare-earth minerals , have begun to increase in demand as a result of new technologies. In 2023, 8.5 billion metric tons of coal were extracted from the Earth's crust. However, as the global economy transitions away from fossil fuels and toward

7905-680: The 7th century to the 14th century. Gold was often traded to Mediterranean economies that demanded gold and could supply salt , even though much of Africa was abundant with salt due to the mines and resources in the Sahara desert . The trading of gold for salt was mostly used to promote trade between the different economies. Since the Great Trek in the 19th century, after, gold and diamond mining in Southern Africa has had major political and economic impacts. The Democratic Republic of Congo

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8060-476: The Bureau of Land Management signed off on the final Field Work Authorization allowing excavation work to proceed in Thacker Pass. On December 17, 2021, a letter was delivered to the people of Red Mountain notifying the group that Falk and co-counsel Terry Lodge planned on filing a motion to withdraw as attorneys on January 7, 2022, citing irreconcilable differences. On January 3, 2022, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony,

8215-732: The Court does not support [plaintiffs'] claims...the 1868 field notes do not show a massacre happened within the Project area." On October 5, 2021, Tribal lawyers filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider the opinion that the massacre did not occur at Thacker Pass. This motion was denied on November 8, and the judge stated: "the proffered newly discovered evidence is too speculative to support an irreparable harm finding". The Archeological Resources Protection permit, issued in September 2021, required additional approval and on December 16, 2021,

8370-524: The Earth's surface. These were used to make early tools and weapons; for example, high quality flint found in northern France , southern England and Poland was used to create flint tools . Flint mines have been found in chalk areas where seams of the stone were followed underground by shafts and galleries. The mines at Grimes Graves and Krzemionki are especially famous, and like most other flint mines, are Neolithic in origin (c. 4000–3000 BC). Other hard rocks mined or collected for axes included

8525-466: The Federal Court of Australia overturned this decision in 2011, finding that FMG and its chairman and CEO, Andrew Forrest, had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and breached the continuous disclosure provisions in the Corporations Act, 2001 , by claiming to have binding contracts with China. The court found that a Chinese framework agreement does not amount to a binding contract, in

8680-641: The Federal Court. A hearing was held in Roebourne and at a sacred site on Yindjibarndi country, called Bangkangarra, located in the Hamersley Range , in the Pilbara. The Federal Court was informed that a ceremony traditionally used to reconcile the Yindjibarndi people of the Pilbara after disputes has now been impacted by a division among the traditional owners. During the court hearing on-country,

8835-675: The French crown to operate mines in 1733, becoming "the first practical miner on Lake Superior"; seven years later, mining was halted by an outbreak between Sioux and Chippewa tribes. Mining in the United States became widespread in the 19th century, and the United States Congress passed the General Mining Act of 1872 to encourage mining of federal lands. As with the California Gold Rush in

8990-578: The Indigenous people have achieved and the change in direction they're taking is really historic." Metal mining Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials, and final reclamation or restoration of the land after the mine is closed. Mining materials are often obtained from ore bodies, lodes , veins , seams , reefs , or placer deposits . The exploitation of these deposits for raw materials

9145-643: The Loloma Gold Mines, N.L., and then by Fiji Mines Development Ltd. (aka Dolphin Mines Ltd.). These developments ushered in a “mining boom”, with gold production rising more than a hundred-fold, from 931.4 oz in 1934 to 107,788.5 oz in 1939, an order of magnitude then comparable to the combined output of New Zealand and Australia's eastern states. During prehistoric times, early Americans mined large amounts of copper along Lake Superior 's Keweenaw Peninsula and in nearby Isle Royale ; metallic copper

9300-555: The People of Red Mountain. Cavanaugh-Bill also withdrew from representing the Reno Sparks Indian Colony. The next day, an article describing the acrimonious split, stated that the People of Red Mountain fired Falk because Falk and Wilbert, co-founders of 'Protect Thacker Pass', are also members of Deep Green Resistance (DGR), and there were concerns over DGR's beliefs about transgenderism. Further articles followed on

9455-701: The Progressive Leadership Alliance (PLAN) of Nevada, who visited the 'Protect Thacker Pass' camp, said that he felt misled regarding its ties with DGR, and that the association was hindering donations opposing the mine. Kelly Fuller, then Energy and Mining Campaign Director for the Western Watersheds Project, one of the environmental groups suing the BLM over the project, also commented on the cost of having DGR involved. Wilbert and Falk took down their protest camp after

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9610-481: The Romans needed Britannia 's resources, especially gold , silver , tin , and lead . Roman techniques were not limited to surface mining. They followed the ore veins underground once opencast mining was no longer feasible. At Dolaucothi they stoped out the veins and drove adits through bare rock to drain the stopes. The same adits were also used to ventilate the workings, especially important when fire-setting

9765-1006: The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation , the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe , Lovelock Paiute Tribe , Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe , Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony . Local Indigenous communities harvest traditional foods, medicines and supplies for sacred ceremonies in the region. Members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe have stated that their tribe "descends from essentially two families who, hiding in Thacker Pass, managed to avoid being sent to reservations farther away from our ancestral lands" and hence that this tribe owes its existence to

9920-691: The Solomon hub, the Queens Valley mine , was approved for construction in 2019 at a projected cost of A$ 417 million. The mine, located 15 km west of the Kings Valley mine, is scheduled to open in 2022. In May 2018 Fortescue announced a US$ 1.28 billion development of a new mine in the Pilbara at the Eliwana site. This expansion will include an additional 143 km of railway and a dry ore processing plant capable of processing 30 million tonnes

10075-598: The Spanish to pulverize ore after being mined. This device was powered by animals and used the same principles used for grain threshing . Much of the knowledge of medieval mining techniques comes from books such as Biringuccio 's De la pirotechnia and probably most importantly from Georg Agricola 's De re metallica (1556). These books detail many different mining methods used in German and Saxon mines. A prime issue in medieval mines, which Agricola explains in detail,

10230-525: The Thacker Pass mine project area, and the USFWS intend to issue an eagle incidental take permit to LNC relating to noise disturbance in a territory encompassing Thacker Canyon. Two members of Deep Green Resistance (DGR), a radical environmental group, began occupying Thacker Pass on January 15, 2021, the day the Record of Decision was issued for the proposed mine. Max Wilbert and attorney Will Falk set up

10385-417: The U.S. Lithium Americas estimates that the site contains recoverable lithium worth $ 3.9 billion. It is estimated that enough batteries for about a million electric vehicles a year could be mined. Thacker Pass would use a newly developed process to extract lithium from the clay deposit. Usually lithium is mined by either hard rock mining or brine mining . This mine will use hydraulic shovels to remove

10540-784: The US holds some of the largest known reserves of lithium, the only large-scale US mine producing it (located in Silver Peak, Nevada ) makes less than 5,000 tons annually, which is less than 2% of the global supply. Bessemer City mine and Kings Mountain Mine in North Carolina have lithium deposits. The environmental conflict at Thacker Pass lithium mine is representative of global conflicts arising from increased mineral extraction that would be required to make an energy transition away from fossil fuels in response to climate change. Some opposition groups have expressed concern that

10695-756: The Umm el-Sawwan site; gypsum was used to make funerary items for private tombs. Other minerals mined in Egypt from the Old Kingdom (2649-2134 BC) until the Roman Period (30 BC-AD 395) including granite , sandstone , limestone , basalt , travertine , gneiss , galena , and amethyst . Mining in Egypt occurred in the earliest dynasties. The gold mines of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive of any in Ancient Egypt. These mines are described by

10850-506: The United States Ninth Circuit for reconsideration of previous preliminary injunction requests. In October 2022, the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe signed a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with Lithium Americas establishing a collaborative framework and defining the long-term benefits for the tribe. The Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, are located 35 miles (56 km) north of Thacker Pass and

11005-510: The Water Pollution Control Permit. On March 8, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its Record of Decision for Lithium Nevada Corporation's (LNC) Eagle Take Permit Application and Eagle Conservation Plan. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) found three occupied golden eagle territories overlapping the project area and a fourth closely adjoining it. No eagle nests were found within

11160-689: The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation is as of May 2022 leading a native title compensation claim in the Federal Court , asserting that FMG have been mining on Yindjibarndi land without an agreement. According to the National Native Title Tribunal , the Federal Court needs to make a determination on whether the community is eligible for "compensation for the loss, impairment, diminution or extinguishment of native title rights and interests in

11315-513: The area". As of 2023, Fortescue has not provided any compensation or received permission from the Yindjibarndi people to carry out mining on their land, despite them receiving permission from a larger local Aboriginal corporation, composed of most of the community leaders and elders . Fortescue's operations in the area have destroyed about 250 cultural and sacred sites. In 2024, the case between Fortescue and Yindjibarndi people continued in

11470-473: The bid to block construction of the lithium mine, deferring to the expertise of the Bureau of Land Management and the decision made by U.S. District Judge Miranda Du to allow construction to go forward. In November 2023, Judge Du dismissed the second lawsuit brought by the three tribes but left open the possibility of an amended filing, stating: "given that the Court has now twice agreed with Federal Defendants...and Plaintiffs did not vary their argument at all

11625-528: The bright green malachite stones for ornamentations and pottery . Later, between 2613 and 2494 BC, large building projects required expeditions abroad to the area of Wadi Maghareh in order to secure minerals and other resources not available in Egypt itself. Quarries for turquoise and copper were also found at Wadi Hammamat , Tura , Aswan and various other Nubian sites on the Sinai Peninsula and at Timna . Quarries for gypsum were found at

11780-408: The butchery of the 'rotten moon' story, but didn't mention who perpetrated the attack leading to speculation on the involvement of soldiers. A tribal elder, Alana Crutcher, refuted the claim Peehee mu'huh was a name used for Thacker Pass and cast doubt on whether the massacre protestors described ever took place. Reporter Molly Wood, who interviewed both Crutcher and Hinkey couldn't substantiate

11935-531: The carriers were built by the Yangzijiang shipyard in Jiangsu , China . The rest of the fleet is being built by Guangzhou Shipyard International . The current operating fleet is: In 2020, Fortescue Future Industries was created to produce energy in several countries, starting with the 60 MW solar farm at its Chichester Hub. In October 2021, Fortescue Future Industries and Plug Power Inc. announced

12090-428: The clay and turn it into a slurry . Non-lithium-containing sand and rock will be separated and immediately returned to the pit. The lithium-bearing clay slurry would be mixed with sulfuric acid to extract the metal. A plant would be built on-site to burn molten sulfur and produce sulfuric acid, which is safer than transporting sulfuric acid, and would result in one third the number of truckloads necessary. Sulfur

12245-410: The closest Native American community to the project. On February 6, 2023, U.S District Judge Miranda Du denied the majority of the protestors claims leaving the way forward for mine construction to commence. Judge Du ruled that BLM's outreach to local tribes "was reasonable and made in good faith based on the information BLM had at the time it initiated consultation". An appeal was lodged against

12400-637: The company announced it had achieved first production from its 40 mtpa Kings Valley mine . The train load out (TLO) facility at Firetail was commissioned in November 2012 and the first ore was transported on the Fortescue Hamersley Rail Line in December 2012. In December 2012 Fortescue opened the 129-kilometre (80 mi) Solomon Railway that connects Solomon to Fortescue's mainline to its port operations. A third operation within

12555-468: The company had signed 102 contracts and subcontracts with 50 businesses including $ 500 million worth of contracts with six Aboriginal joint ventures and Morris Corporation representing the largest-ever package of contracts awarded to Aboriginal businesses. Of the contracts awarded, Fortescue said more than 80% were awarded to Aboriginal businesses that were at least half indigenous owned. Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest told The Guardian : "The depth of what

12710-546: The council withdrew from that agreement and agreed to sue the Bureau of Land Management for violations of the National Historic Preservation Act after a petition organized by the People of Red Mountain. This lawsuit was never filed. In July, 2021 Chief United States District Judge Miranda Du ruled that Lithium America may excavate archaeological trenches at the site, as the environmental groups could not show irreparable harm would be caused by

12865-417: The cutter-head is progressively launched further into the coal seam. High wall mining can produce thousands of tons of coal in contour-strip operations with narrow benches, previously mined areas, trench mine applications and steep-dip seams. Sub-surface mining consists of digging tunnels or shafts into the earth to reach buried ore deposits. Ore, for processing, and waste rock, for disposal, are brought to

13020-487: The deposits at Cloudbreak called for a new mining approach to those used at other mines which operate on vertical deposits of ore. Overburden removal is done using conventional blast, truck and shovel methods while specially designed surface miners cut and load the ore into trucks for transport to the run of mine stockpiles. Screening, crushing and desand plants at the Cloudbreak ore processing facility prepare and refine

13175-535: The digging. The digging was less than 1/4 acre and was used to determine whether cultural artifacts exist within the proposed project area. In September, Judge Du also ruled against tribes' claims that a historical massacre occurred in Thacker Pass and refused to grant their request for a preliminary injunction to stop excavation for cultural resources. She stated that while she found their spiritual distress persuasive, they did not show sufficiently specific irreparable harm. Judge Du also stated that "the evidence before

13330-580: The diversion was detrimental to the Bartell Ranch operation and against the public interest. The protest was overruled on February 9th, 2023, by the Nevada State Engineer, who developed an independent groundwater flow model to estimate the impacts of the mine on local water resources. The mine overlaps with 2,866 acres (1,160 ha) of big sagebrush habitat and known golden eagle breeding sites. The project may be disruptive to

13485-540: The divisions among family and community members resulting from the Fortescue case may be irreparable. In August 2013, CEO Nev Power announced the company had achieved its target of awarding $ 1 billion in contracts to Aboriginal business by the end of 2013. Fortescue had made the commitment in 2011 to award $ 1 billion in contracts to businesses at least 25% owned by Aboriginal Australians through its Billion Opportunities program. In reaching its target six months early,

13640-401: The extraction of 2.4 billion tons of ore over the next 40 years, worth $ 280 billion, offering less than a deal struck by Rio Tinto that would provide $ 2 billion over 40 years. On 8 April 2011, Slater & Gordon , representing the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation in its negotiations with FMG, requested FMG compensate the Yindjibarndi community. In March 2011, FMG was accused of supporting

13795-614: The final state-level permits necessary for the project. The Water Pollution Control Permit, which only allows Lithium Nevada to mine above the water table, was challenged in March 2022 by an environmental group, Great Basin Resource Watch (GBRW), who filed an appeal with the Nevada State Environmental Commission (SEC). On June 28, 2022, the SEC five-member panel voted to affirm NDEP's approval of

13950-698: The focus to the “total environment of mining”, including reference to community development around mining, and how mining is portrayed to an urban society, which depends on the industry, although seemingly unaware of this dependency. He stated, “[I]n the past, mining engineers have not been called upon to study the psychological, sociological and personal problems of their own industry – aspects that nowadays are assuming tremendous importance. The mining engineer must rapidly expand his knowledge and his influence into these newer fields.” Mining techniques can be divided into two common excavation types: surface mining and sub-surface (underground) mining . Today, surface mining

14105-487: The form of water mills was extensive. The water mills were employed in crushing ore, raising ore from shafts, and ventilating galleries by powering giant bellows . Black powder was first used in mining in Selmecbánya , Kingdom of Hungary (now Banská Štiavnica , Slovakia) in 1627. Black powder allowed blasting of rock and earth to loosen and reveal ore veins. Blasting was much faster than fire-setting and allowed

14260-408: The form of legal challenges and direct action . While several Indigenous tribes with traditional homeland in the area support the project some nearby tribes oppose the project. These opposition tribes have stated that Thacker Pass is a sacred site, a massacre site, and that they were not adequately consulted by the Bureau of Land Management . No BLM study or cultural mining study has found evidence of

14415-619: The grant of the three licenses to the Native Title Tribunal in 2009, initially failing to win orders preventing the grant of the licenses. The YAC also failed in its initial Federal Court appeal of that decision last year, and the state government issued the mining licenses to FMG in late November 2010. Both FMG and the YAC are now waiting on the results of a new appeal to the Full Bench of the Federal Court. The company estimated

14570-400: The growing importance of sustainable metal extraction practices. The process of mining from discovery of an ore body through extraction of minerals and finally to returning the land to its natural state consists of several distinct steps. The first is discovery of the ore body, which is carried out through prospecting or exploration to find and then define the extent, location and value of

14725-526: The habitat of Endangered Species Act -listed animals. A coalition of environmental groups filing a lawsuit against the mine stated that Thacker Pass is "critically important to wildlife because it connects the Double H Mountains to the Montana Mountains " and "provides lower-elevation habitat that wildlife need to survive the winter." However, the environmentalist groups lost the battle in court and

14880-585: The habitat of the endangered Lahontan cutthroat trout and the Kings River pyrg ( Pyrgulopsis imperialis ), a rare springsnail not known to live anywhere else in the world. There are concerns about the mine's potential impacts on the safety of local communities: projects that bring a large predominately male workforce from outside the local area can generate local increases in drug use and violent crime, and are associated with violence against Indigenous women . In August 2019, Lithium Americas lodged

15035-410: The heart of the Pilbara , the Chichester Hub is made up of Fortescue's flagship minesite Cloudbreak and the second minesite Christmas Creek . The total Chichester Hub produces 90 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of iron ore plus an additional five mtpa from a joint venture with BC Iron. Fortescue's first minesite Cloudbreak in 2013 mined 40 million tonnes of iron ore a year. The horizontal nature of

15190-434: The heaviest trains in the world. The 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) ( standard-gauge ) heavy-haul railway is used by 35,200- tonne (34,644- long-ton ; 38,801- short-ton ) trains up to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) long carrying 29,000 tonnes (28,542 long tons; 31,967 short tons) of ore at a 40-tonne (39-long-ton; 44-short-ton) axle load (the weight of the two 4,000-horsepower [3 MW] engines

15345-525: The lawsuits against the BLM and Lithium Nevada Corporation. Reno-Sparks Indian Colony requested that the BLM consult them about the mine, stating in a letter that "Just because regional tribes have been isolated and forced onto reservations relatively far away from Thacker Pass does not mean these regional tribes do not possess cultural connections to the Pass." When the BLM rejected this request for consultation, Reno Sparks Indian Colony, Burns Paiute Tribe , and

15500-493: The life of the joint venture. In June 2018 Fortescue announced the purchase of 15% of junior iron ore miner Atlas Iron . This brought Fortescue's ownership stakes up to nearly 20%. The acquisition of a controlling interest in Atlas Iron was planned to give Fortescue access to greater port capacity as well as additional higher-grade iron ore tenements. This also potentially allowed a move towards lithium production. This move

15655-458: The massacre in which the Paiute victims were murdered by the enemy tribe and their insides strung out on the sagebrush. The Pit River inter-tribal raid story of 'rotten moon' has been conflated with the documented 1865 attack by soldiers in many reports, including those by local reporters following the court case. In a December 2023 video, People of Red Mountain's Day Hinkey also said

15810-569: The massacre site within the mining area or even the extended area. Additionally, opponents of the mine have voiced concerns about rushed environmental review, threats to critical wildlife habitat, disruption of cultural sites. Proponents of the mine have stated that the project is necessary to limit climate change by reducing carbon emissions from American cars , is benign in its social and environmental impact, and will create 300 long-term jobs in rural Nevada, paying an average of $ 63,000 per year. The New York Times reported that controversy around

15965-535: The metals due to the difficulties of transporting them, but the copper was eventually traded throughout the continent along major river routes. In the early colonial history of the Americas, "native gold and silver was quickly expropriated and sent back to Spain in fleets of gold- and silver-laden galleons", the gold and silver originating mostly from mines in Central and South America. Turquoise dated at 700 AD

16120-768: The mid-19th century, mining for minerals and precious metals, along with ranching , became a driving factor in the U.S. Westward Expansion to the Pacific coast. With the exploration of the West, mining camps sprang up and "expressed a distinctive spirit, an enduring legacy to the new nation"; Gold Rushers would experience the same problems as the Land Rushers of the transient West that preceded them. Aided by railroads, many people traveled West for work opportunities in mining. Western cities such as Denver and Sacramento originated as mining towns. When new areas were explored, it

16275-497: The mid-sixteenth century. On the continent, mineral deposits belonged to the crown, and this regalian right was stoutly maintained. But in England, royal mining rights were restricted to gold and silver (of which England had virtually no deposits) by a judicial decision of 1568 and a law in 1688. England had iron , zinc , copper , lead , and tin ores. Landlords who owned the base metals and coal under their estates then had

16430-738: The middle of Fortescue's 87,000 km (34,000 sq mi) Pilbara tenement area, the Solomon Hub was Fortescue's next major project. It has almost twice the resource and less than half the strip ratio of the Chichester Hub. Fortescue's Exploration team has already delineated more than 2.86 billion t (2.81 billion long tons; 3.15 billion short tons) of resource at the Solomon Hub and there are identified exploration prospects targeting up to 5 billion t (4.9 billion long tons; 5.5 billion short tons). In May 2013, Fortescue officially opened its 20-million-tonne-per-annum (mtpa) Firetail mine at Solomon. In December 2013,

16585-403: The mine by praying, dancing, and sharing food with local people and protesters occupying the site. Indigenous people attending that event said there were sacred sites in the area including burials and also a massacre site from which the location derives its name in the Paiute language. They also demonstrated concerns about public health, water quality, air quality, and lack of Indigenous consent for

16740-651: The mine claim the environmental review was rushed, because what is normally a multi-year review process was completed in less than a year. During the permitting process for the proposed Thacker Pass lithium mine in 2020, the BLM consultation with the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, the Summit Lake Paiute tribe, and the Western Winnemucca Indian Colony resulted in no issue concerning historic property within areas of potential disturbance. Other tribes were not consulted during

16895-424: The mine has been allowed to proceed. The group also stated that the area constituted "one of the last big blocks of the sagebrush sea free of development." Additional environmental concerns include contamination from groundwater pollutants such as arsenic, air pollution from sulfuric acid leaching of lithium from clay sediments, and changes in the connectivity of groundwater and surface water systems. This could harm

17050-432: The mine is "emblematic of a fundamental tension" between green energy and damage caused by resource extraction required for those technologies. The Thacker Pass lithium deposit has measured and indicated resources of 13.7 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, at an average ore grade of 2,231 ppm (0.22%) lithium. The Thacker Pass volcano-sedimentary deposit is the largest known sedimentary lithium resource in

17205-408: The mine site had disrupted the land. The court then visited another location—a rock shelter with evidence of occupation dating back 35,000 years—situated beneath an iron ore haulage road. Justice Burnley remarked that he wanted the court to note the "constant and audible sound of vehicles" during the visit. Fortescue maintains that it does not owe compensation to the Yindjibarndi people, arguing that

17360-427: The mine would produce 66,000 tons annually, equivalent to 25% of the current (2021) demand for lithium globally , which is expected to triple over the next five years. Development of the mine is driven by increasing demand for lithium used in electric vehicle batteries and grid storage of intermittently generated electricity from sources such as solar power or wind power . The project has met resistance in

17515-424: The mine. Phase 1 water consumption is estimated at 2,600 acre feet per year, the equivalent of approximately five alfalfa irrigation pivots of well water. The mine would consume 5,200 acre feet of water annually in Phase 2, equivalent to 1.7 billion gallons. The proposed transfer of water rights from Quinn River Valley crop irrigation to the mine site prompted a protest from a local rancher who claimed

17670-432: The minehead, where the water was stored in large reservoirs and tanks. When a full tank was opened, the flood of water sluiced away the overburden to expose the bedrock underneath and any gold-bearing veins. The rock was then worked by fire-setting to heat the rock, which would be quenched with a stream of water. The resulting thermal shock cracked the rock, enabling it to be removed by further streams of water from

17825-487: The mineral-rich material and extract the desired compounds and metals from the ore. Kings Valley mine The Thacker Pass lithium mine is a lithium clay mining development project in Humboldt County, Nevada , which is the largest known lithium deposit in the US and one of the largest in the world. There has been significant exploration of Thacker Pass since 2007. The Bureau of Land Management issued

17980-431: The mining of previously impenetrable metals and ores. In 1762, one of the world's first mining academies was established in the same town there. The widespread adoption of agricultural innovations such as the iron plowshare , as well as the growing use of metal as a building material, was also a driving force in the tremendous growth of the iron industry during this period. Inventions like the arrastra were often used by

18135-639: The name Peehee mu'huh derives from an inter-tribal war with the Pit River Tribe . Falk, in an April 2021 conversation with Deep Green Resistance co-founder, Derrick Jensen, said the origin of the name was an enemy tribe attack. According to the United States Department of Energy , the Thacker Pass lithium mine could supply enough lithium carbonate for up to 800,000 electric vehicle batteries annually, reducing consumption of gasoline by 317 million gallons per year. The lithium mine

18290-561: The natural meaning of the word. If found to have breached director's duties, Forrest faced the possibility of being banned as a director of an ASIC-listed company. FMG appealed against the decision, and in October 2012, the High Court found in favour of FMG and Forrest, reversing the decision of the full bench of the Federal Court and agreeing with the original 2009 decision by Justice Gilmour. In his judgement, Justice Honour concluded that Fortescue's releases "correctly represented that there

18445-405: The ore body. This leads to a mathematical resource estimation to estimate the size and grade of the deposit. This estimation is used to conduct a pre-feasibility study to determine the theoretical economics of the ore deposit. This identifies, early on, whether further investment in estimation and engineering studies is warranted and identifies key risks and areas for further work. The next step

18600-462: The ore concentrates, engineering concerns, milling and infrastructure costs, finance and equity requirements, and an analysis of the proposed mine from the initial excavation all the way through to reclamation. The proportion of a deposit that is economically recoverable is dependent on the enrichment factor of the ore in the area. To gain access to the mineral deposit within an area it is often necessary to mine through or remove waste material which

18755-442: The ore, lower wages, decreased occupational safety, benefits, and health standards for miners, and a lack of environmental protection measures. Artisanal miners often undertake the activity of mining seasonally. For example, crops are planted in the rainy season , and mining is pursued in the dry season . However, they also frequently travel to mining areas and work year-round. There are four broad types of ASM: Surface mining

18910-570: The overhead tanks. The Roman miners used similar methods to work cassiterite deposits in Cornwall and lead ore in the Pennines . Sluicing methods were developed by the Romans in Spain in 25 AD to exploit large alluvial gold deposits, the largest site being at Las Medulas , where seven long aqueducts tapped local rivers and sluiced the deposits. The Romans also exploited the silver present in

19065-652: The product before the ore is stockpiled ahead of transport to port. The train loadout facility at Cloudbreak is capable of feeding 16,000 tonnes of ore per hour on the 2.7-kilometre-long (1.7 mi) trains ready for the journey along the 256-kilometre (159 mi) heavy-haul railway to the facilities at Herb Elliott Port. Mining began at Christmas Creek , 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the east of Cloudbreak , in May 2009. Subsequent expansion projects have lifted production capacity to 50 million tonnes per annum. The operations at Christmas Creek are undergoing expansion and in late 2010

19220-487: The project. On June 12, 2021, hundreds of people attended a rally in Reno, Nevada to protest the Thacker Pass lithium mine. In January 2022, Gary McKinney, a spokesperson for the People of Red Mountain, said they had recently removed their protest camp from Thacker Pass and split from joint opposition with Falk and Wilbert over concerns regarding their links to Deep Green Resistance. Ian Bigley, Mining Justice Organizer for

19375-431: The remaining part of a coal seam previously exploited by other surface-mining techniques has too much overburden to be removed but can still be profitably exploited from the side of the artificial cliff made by previous mining. A typical cycle alternates sumping, which undercuts the seam, and shearing, which raises and lowers the cutter-head boom to cut the entire height of the coal seam. As the coal recovery cycle continues,

19530-604: The remaining tribe represented in the lawsuit by Falk and Lodge, applied, alongside the Burns Paiute Tribe, to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration of previous preliminary injunction requests that would have prevented the now fully permitted digging from going ahead. The stay pending the appeal was denied by Chief Judge Miranda Du of the District Court of Nevada on January 12, 2022. On January 26, 2022, Falk, Lodge, and local counsel Julie Cavanaugh-Bill were formally granted withdrawal as attorneys for

19685-503: The responsibility lies with the state of WA , which granted the tenements. The WA government disagrees, asserting that the miner is solely responsible. Both parties agreed that compensation is owed. This was conveyed to the court during a week-long hearing at the town hall in Roebourne, the same location where negotiations between the Yindjibarndi people and Andrew Forrest broke down in 2011. Some Yindjibarndi people have stated that

19840-513: The review process, leading the Burns Paiute Tribe and the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony to intervene in a lawsuit against the BLM and Lithium Nevada Corporation in July 2021. In early February, 2021, a local rancher filed a lawsuit against the BLM over concerns about the project's water use. On February 26, 2021, four environmental non-profits (Western Watersheds Project, Great Basin Resource Watch, Basin and Range Watch, and Wildlands Defense) also filed

19995-582: The rift. On February 11, 2022, the Winnemucca Indian Colony filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuits, claiming lack of consultation prior to the January 15, 2021 Record of Decision . The BLM's communications to the local tribes, including the Winnemucca Indian Colony began in 2019 according to court filings. The 320-acre colony (130 ha) has been the center of a decades-long fight concerning its council's legitimacy, tribal membership eligibility disputes and legal cases involving

20150-504: The ruling in the 9th Circuit Court with a subsequent emergency injunction denied requesting the halting of construction work pending the appeal. On February 16, 2023, the two tribes appealing the ruling, along with the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, filed a new federal lawsuit alleging BLM withheld information and that the permitting process was flawed. On July 17, 2023, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied

20305-531: The second time...the Court is skeptical that Plaintiffs could successfully amend it. But skeptical does not mean futile". On 12 December 2023, the second case was dismissed with prejudice after the three tribes failed to submit an amended complaint within the required thirty days. On February 25, 2022, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) issued three permits for the Thacker Pass lithium mine. Lithium Americas stated that these were

20460-446: The shafts could no longer be pumped dry with the available technology. Although an increased use of banknotes , credit and copper coins during this period did decrease the value of, and dependence on, precious metals , gold and silver still remained vital to the story of medieval mining. Due to differences in the social structure of society, the increasing extraction of mineral deposits spread from central Europe to England in

20615-458: The shelter provided by the Pass. Thacker Pass is known as Peehee mu'huh by tribal protestors, meaning 'rotten moon'. The name was first publicized in March 2021, by People of Red Mountain, a twelve-strong group formed to oppose the mine. In numerous interviews, group lawyer Will Falk, with members Myron Smart and Daranda Hinkey, recounted a gory massacre of Paiutes. Those interviews and Falk's July/August 2021 court filings, detailed

20770-567: The silver mines of Laurium , which helped support the Greek city state of Athens . Although they had over 20,000 slaves working them, their technology was essentially identical to their Bronze Age predecessors. At other mines, such as on the island of Thassos , marble was quarried by the Parians after they arrived in the 7th century BC. The marble was shipped away and was later found by archaeologists to have been used in buildings including

20925-500: The state, larger than both BHP and Rio Tinto . As of May 2022 Andrew Forrest is Executive Chairman and owns a third of the company. Dino Otranto is the CEO of Fortescue's Metals division (Aug 2023–), and Mark Hutchinson is the CEO of the Energy division. Former Chief Executive Elizabeth Gaines is now global brand ambassador. The group has two main areas of operation located within

21080-539: The story despite further research. In August 2021, Falk unearthed historical records of a cavalry attack in 1865 on Paiutes in the Quinn River Valley claiming it spilled over into Thacker Pass. In November 2021, Falk's court filing for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony described two separate attacks, with the story of Peehee mu’huh updated to include the Pit River Indians as perpetrators of

21235-474: The surface through the tunnels and shafts. Sub-surface mining can be classified by the type of access shafts used, and the extraction method or the technique used to reach the mineral deposit. Drift mining uses horizontal access tunnels, slope mining uses diagonally sloping access shafts, and shaft mining uses vertical access shafts. Mining in hard and soft rock formations requires different techniques. Other methods include shrinkage stope mining , which

21390-602: The tomb of Amphipolis. Philip II of Macedon , the father of Alexander the Great , captured the gold mines of Mount Pangeo in 357 BC to fund his military campaigns. He also captured gold mines in Thrace for minting coinage, eventually producing 26 tons per year. However, it was the Romans who developed large-scale mining methods, especially the use of large volumes of water brought to the minehead by numerous aqueducts . The water

21545-448: The top of a mountain off to reach ore deposits at depth. Most placer deposits, because they are shallowly buried, are mined by surface methods. Finally, landfill mining involves sites where landfills are excavated and processed. Landfill mining has been thought of as a long-term solution to methane emissions and local pollution. High wall mining, which evolved from auger mining, is another form of surface mining. In high wall mining,

21700-628: The top slats. Many examples of such devices have been found in old Roman mines and some examples are now preserved in the British Museum and the National Museum of Wales . Mining as an industry underwent dramatic changes in medieval Europe . The mining industry in the early Middle Ages was mainly focused on the extraction of copper and iron . Other precious metals were also used, mainly for gilding or coinage. Initially, many metals were obtained through open-pit mining , and ore

21855-567: The traditional owners of the Solomon Mine area, the Yindjibarndi people , where Fortescue (then FMG) acquired mining leases and has been mining since 2013. When Fortescue started planning the Solomon Hub, it entered negotiations with the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal corporation. However, the relationship deteriorated in 2007 when the Yindjibarndi people discovered that FMG had the legal authority to destroy their sacred sites and

22010-505: The two companies entered into a 50-50 joint venture in which BC Iron manages mining, crushing and screening, and trucking while Fortescue is contracted to provide haulage and port services to the joint venture. In December 2012 Fortescue sold a 25% stake to BC Iron Ore for A$ 190 million and agreed to increase the available capacity to the NJV on Fortescue's rail and port infrastructure from the existing 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), to 6 mtpa for

22165-469: The world's gold, followed by the establishment of large mines such as the Mount Morgan Mine , which ran for nearly a hundred years, Broken Hill ore deposit (one of the largest zinc-lead ore deposits), and the iron ore mines at Iron Knob . After declines in production, another boom in mining occurred in the 1960s. In the early 21st century, Australia remains a major world mineral producer. As

22320-474: The world, which was increasingly demanding copper for electrical and household goods. Canada's mining industry grew more slowly than did the United States due to limitations in transportation, capital, and U.S. competition; Ontario was the major producer of the early 20th century with nickel, copper, and gold. Meanwhile, Australia experienced the Australian gold rushes and by the 1850s was producing 40% of

22475-666: Was also potentially giving Fortescue access to the North West Infrastructure joint venture. This venture was a collaboration between Atlas Iron, Brockman Mining and FerrAus . In October 2018, however, Atlas was acquired by Redstone Resources, a fully owned subsidiary of Hancock Prospecting , and delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange on 21 November 2018. In February 2023 Fortescue Metals Group inked in an agreement to develop iron ore at Belinga in north-eastern Gabon with

22630-408: Was an agreement, and that it was in the view of the parties binding from the time of board approval". Despite the early announcement, in 2008, the group loaded its first iron ore shipment bound for China. Fortescue have at least ten Chinese steel mill contracts lasting for around ten years. Baosteel was the first company to receive their iron ore. Since 2008 Fortescue have been in a legal battle with

22785-540: Was doing so during the mine's construction. After the corporation rejected FMG's royalty offer, the miner supported a breakaway group, the Wirlu-Murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, reportedly to facilitate Fortescue's approvals to mine. This group paid individuals $ 500 each to attend a meeting in 2010, where the deal was approved. Prior to this, the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) had lodged its opposition to

22940-590: Was granted 32 exploration areas." The company has built a mine, a 260-kilometre (162 mi) private railway and a new port at Point Anderson (aka Herb Elliot Port) near Port Hedland . The Fortescue rail line has a flyover over the Mount Newman railway , and a crossing of the BHP Billiton railway . The "first ore on ship" on the line occurred in May 2008, three-and-a-half years after construction started. The railway's 240-wagon iron ore trains are amongst

23095-628: Was mined in pre-Columbian America; in the Cerillos Mining District in New Mexico , an estimate of "about 15,000 tons of rock had been removed from Mt. Chalchihuitl using stone tools before 1700." In 1727 Louis Denys (Denis) (1675–1741), sieur de La Ronde – brother of Simon-Pierre Denys de Bonaventure and the son-in-law of René Chartier – took command of Fort La Pointe at Chequamegon Bay ; where natives informed him of an island of copper. La Ronde obtained permission from

23250-576: Was primarily extracted from shallow depths, rather than through deep mine shafts. Around the 14th century , the growing use of weapons , armour , stirrups , and horseshoes greatly increased the demand for iron. Medieval knights , for example, were often laden with up to 100 pounds (45 kg) of plate or chain link armour in addition to swords , lances and other weapons. The overwhelming dependency on iron for military purposes spurred iron production and extraction processes. The silver crisis of 1465 occurred when all mines had reached depths at which

23405-406: Was still present near the surface in colonial times. Indigenous peoples used Lake Superior copper from at least 5,000 years ago; copper tools, arrowheads, and other artifacts that were part of an extensive native trade-network have been discovered. In addition, obsidian , flint , and other minerals were mined, worked, and traded. Early French explorers who encountered the sites made no use of

23560-411: Was the removal of water from mining shafts. As miners dug deeper to access new veins, flooding became a very real obstacle. The mining industry became dramatically more efficient and prosperous with the invention of mechanically- and animal-driven pumps. Iron metallurgy in Africa dates back over four thousand years. Gold became an important commodity for Africa during the trans-Saharan gold trade from

23715-403: Was used for a variety of purposes, including removing overburden and rock debris, called hydraulic mining , as well as washing comminuted , or crushed, ores and driving simple machinery. The Romans used hydraulic mining methods on a large scale to prospect for the veins of ore, especially using a now-obsolete form of mining known as hushing . They built numerous aqueducts to supply water to

23870-465: Was used. At other parts of the site, they penetrated the water table and dewatered the mines using several kinds of machines, especially reverse overshot water-wheels . These were used extensively in the copper mines at Rio Tinto in Spain, where one sequence comprised 16 such wheels arranged in pairs, and lifting water about 24 metres (79 ft). They were worked as treadmills with miners standing on

24025-539: Was usually the gold ( placer and then lode ) and then silver that were taken into possession and extracted first. Other metals would often wait for railroads or canals, as coarse gold dust and nuggets do not require smelting and are easy to identify and transport. In the early 20th century, the gold and silver rush to the western United States also stimulated mining for coal as well as base metals such as copper, lead, and iron. Areas in modern Montana, Utah, Arizona, and later Alaska became predominant suppliers of copper to

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