This Miner Might Change the Future Of The iPhone

Forbes

Rhyolite Ridge is an amazing deposit. There’s not another one like it in the world,” marvels Bernard Rowe, an exploration geologist and CEO of Australian mining company Ioneer. Rowe, 56, came to Nevada prospecting for gold and copper, and was struck by the Ridge, a volcanic rock outcrop in the southwest part of the state. He collected ore samples, which proved to have high concentrations of lithium and boron.   The discovery prompted a call to his friend James Calaway, a Texan who had developed one of the world’s biggest lithium mines in Argentina. After due diligence, in 2017 they secured enough mineral rights in Nevada’s Esmeralda County to potentially produce more than 100,000 tons of lithium a year—enough to make batteries for billions of iPhones and millions of electric cars. Now they just need to start digging.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2024/02/21/electric-cars-vs-wildflowers-who-wins/?sh=2d16aee01461  Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. Subscribe here: https://art19.com/shows/forbes-daily-briefing  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Friday, February 23rd.

00:05 Today on Forbes, this miner might change the future of the iPhone.

00:11 Bernard Rowe is an exploration geologist and CEO of Australian mining company Ioneer.

00:18 Rowe, who is 56 years old, came to Nevada prospecting for gold and copper

00:23 and was struck by rhyolite ridge, a volcanic rock outcrop in the southwest part of the state.

00:29 He says, "Rhyolite ridge is an amazing deposit. There's not another one like it in the world."

00:37 Rowe collected ore samples, which proved to have high concentrations of lithium and boron.

00:43 The discovery prompted a call to his friend James Callaway,

00:46 a Texan who had developed one of the world's biggest lithium mines in Argentina.

00:51 After due diligence, in 2017 they secured enough mineral rights in Nevada's Esmeralda County

00:57 to potentially produce more than 100,000 tons of lithium a year,

01:01 enough to make batteries for billions of iPhones and millions of electric cars.

01:06 Now they just need to start digging.

01:09 Rhyolite Ridge is on federal land, requiring permits from the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management.

01:16 But given China's dominance in lithium, it refined 75% of the world's 1 million tons of 2023 production.

01:23 Callaway, Ioneer's chairman, believed his project would be favored politically.

01:28 After all, the U.S. currently produces just 7,000 tons annually.

01:33 However, there was a complication.

01:36 A six-inch-high desert wildflower with yellow blooms called Teems buckwheat.

01:41 The heart of this rare perennial's 900-acre range is right where Ioneer intended to mine.

01:47 So the company worked with desert botanists, including researchers at the University of Nevada,

01:52 to devise a plan to dig up and "translocate" thousands of plants to similar terrain nearby.

01:59 Callaway says, "Our analysis showed that it should work."

02:03 But Callaway didn't get the chance to try.

02:06 After 40% of the native population, about 17,000 plants, died mysteriously in the summer of 2020,

02:13 environmentalists petitioned for its inclusion as an endangered species.

02:17 Undeterred, Ioneer submitted revised mining plans in early 2022.

02:22 Months later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially designated Teems buckwheat as endangered.

02:28 Callaway's desert bloom dilemma exposes a critical challenge facing policymakers.

02:33 Who prevails in green versus green, when one environmental concern comes into conflict with another?

02:40 Is digging up enough minerals like lithium, neodymium, and dysprosium to enable the electric vehicle transition?

02:46 Worth killing 44,000 small plants growing in the middle of the Nevada desert?

02:51 Should we erect offshore wind turbines if they kill whales and seabirds?

02:55 If so, how many dead whales is too many?

02:58 Callaway says, "Everyone wanted this to work, for the good of the world."

03:04 That includes the Biden administration, which announced in 2023 that it would lend Ioneer $700 million for the project if permits were approved.

03:13 But the mine's chorus of detractors, including the Tucson, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, were too loud to ignore.

03:21 Callaway says that the ultimate solution to Ioneer's buckwheat conundrum required psychological reframing.

03:27 He says, "We shifted from hostility toward this thing, that it was an impediment to us, to embracing the plant as a symbol.

03:35 We decided we were going to be responsible for taking care of these plants.

03:39 Once that happened, everything changed."

03:42 Ioneer redesigned the mining pit around a strict "no-touch" policy, with a buffer zone of hundreds of feet around all but a handful of plants.

03:51 Instead of leaving an island of Teams buckwheat flanked by an open-cut quarry, they shifted some operations a half-mile away.

03:58 And then they doubled down on an ambitious biology project.

04:01 Outside Carson City, Nevada, Ioneer has botanists operating a 1,600-square-foot greenhouse in which they cultivate buckwheat,

04:09 collect seeds, and insist that the plant can grow happily in slightly alkaline-enriched garden soil.

04:15 Callaway says, "The plant's best chance of survival is by our work."

04:21 For full coverage, check out Christopher Hellman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:27 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

04:31 [music]

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