Land Agency Defends Tribal Consultation for Lithium Nevada Mine

The Bureau of Land Management didn’t need to seek out two tribes before it approved Lithium Nevada’s mine in Thacker Pass because they never showed an interest in the project area, the agency and the mining company told a Nevada federal court.

The tribes say the project’s location was the site of an 1865 massacre, and that the failure of either the company or BLM to consult with them violated the law. They’ve repeatedly asked a U.S. court to stop construction, which the court has denied so far.

Opposing that request, the bureau said it conducted an Ethnographic Assessment and ...