Lithium project promises union jobs in the high desert

An Australian company wants to develop a lithium mine on the Oregon/Nevada border, and on Feb. 2 it committed to building it with union labor.

One of the richest lithium deposits in North America lies at and below the surface of the McDermitt Caldera, which straddles Oregon’s Malheur County and Nevada’s Humboldt County. It’s an incredibly remote desert area on federal land two hours southeast of Burns, Oregon. West Perth-headquartered Jindalee Lithium — through its subsidiary Hitech Minerals — has purchased mining claims that allow them to explore and extract lithium and other minerals on 6,000 acres of land overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Besides lithium, the clay sediments there are also rich in magnesium. Demand for lithium is booming because it’s used in batteries for electric vehicles, laptops, mobile phones, and portable power tools, but nearly all lithium today is mined in Australia, Chile, and China. 

To construct facilities to mine and process lithium on the Oregon/Nevada border could amount to a $3 billion project lasting three years and employing roughly 1,000 construction workers. Once in operation, Jindalee says the mine could account for 600 permanent jobs for at least 63 years. Building and running it would also necessitate the construction of a small town, because currently the nearest population center is the unincorporated border town of McDermitt with fewer than 100 residents. 

Enthusiasm for the project ran high when more than two dozen local building trades union officers met with four company executives Feb. 2 at the Laborers training center in Portland.

“I’m excited because it’s a lot of earth to move, and we like to move earth,” said Nate Stokes, assistant business manager of Operating Engineers Local 701.

After the meeting, Hitech Minerals CEO Ian Rodger and Jindalee founder Lindsay Dudfield signed a letter of understanding stating the company’s intent to sign a project labor agreement before work gets under way. For their part, the union signers — Oregon Building Trades Unions executive secretary Robert Camarillo and executive board member John Walker — committed to do all they can to support the project and get affiliated unions ready to supply the workforce when the time comes.

Next steps will be to complete a feasibility study over the next 12 to 24 months and raise capital for the project through a special purpose acquisition vehicle to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The company plans further drilling this summer to collect samples and get a better understanding of groundwater. Company leaders say construction could start as early as 2029, while acknowledging that would be an ambitious timeline.

“From our side, having built a couple of projects, (organized) labor is key, both from a safety point of view and for getting skilled labor in there,” Rodger told the Labor Press. “In early engagement with unions, I’ve just been really impressed with their training facilities and how early they start thinking through the workforce pipeline.”