By Ernest Scheyder
(Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge ruled on Friday that Lithium Americas Corp may conduct excavation work at its Thacker Pass lithium mine site in Nevada, denying a request from Native Americans who said the digging would desecrate an area they believe holds ancestral bones and artifacts.
The ruling was the second victory in recent weeks for the project, which could become the largest U.S. source of lithium for electric vehicles.
The ruling was narrowly tailored and the court is still considering the broader question of whether former President Donald Trump’s administration erred when it approved the project in January. That ruling is expected by early 2022.
Chief Judge Miranda Du said the Native Americans did not prove the site contains historical artifacts nor that the U.S. government failed to properly consult them during the permitting process. Du had denied a similar request from environmentalists in late July.
Du said, though, that she was not dismissing all the Native Americans’ arguments, but felt bound by existing laws to deny their request.
“This order does not resolve the merits of the tribes’ claims,” Du said in her 22-page ruling.
Regardless, no digging can take place until the U.S. Bureau of Land Management – which controls the government land sitting atop the lithium deposit – issues an Archeological Resources Protection Act permit. No timeline has been set to issue that permit.
The Burns Paiute Tribe, one of the tribes that brought the lawsuit, noted that the BLM itself told the court last month that the land holds cultural value to Native Americans.
“If that’s the case, well then there’s going to be harm if you start digging into the landscape,” said Richard Eichstaedt, an attorney for the Burns Paiute.
Representatives for Vancouver-based Lithium Americas, the BLM, and the two other tribes who sued were not immediately available to comment.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by David Gregorio)
