Lithium-boron producer, Ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR | NASDAQ: IONR), has announced test results revealing 79% of its 360Mt mineral resource can be processed in a similar manner to type one mineralization to create critical electric vehicle battery materials within the company’s Rhyolite Ridge project.
Previous estimates had indicated Rhyolite Ridge contained enough lithium to power more than 50M electric vehicles over the course of its lifetime; with these results supporting those figures.
The potential to increase the lithium and boron at Rhyolite Ridge when the demand for US domestic supply of lithium continues to grow. According to a recent S&P Global study, the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), caused a 15% increase to their 2035 demand forecast versus their estimate prior to the passage of the IRA.
“Rhyolite Ridge is one of a limited number of lithium projects in the US expected to begin production this decade,” commented Bernard Rowe, managing director at Ioneer.
“We look forward to completing the important federal permitting process, delivering these critical and valuable materials, and strengthening domestic EV supply chains.”
Once operational, Rhyolite Ridge will quadruple current US lithium supply and help to rebalance the global production of boric acid. Upon anticipated completion of the permitting process, stage one construction at Rhyolite Ridge (largely funded through the combination of conditional commitments of US$490M in equity from Sibanye-Stillwater and US$700M in debt from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office) is set to begin in 2024, with lithium production expected in 2026.
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