Hello, everyone.
And the problem with big sandy is in this news.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/wikieup-lithium-mine-big-sandy-hualapai-tribe-ranchers-water-hawkstone-11561652For more information, please refer to the bml website.
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2012598/510https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/2012598/200480507/20037319/250043516/Big%20Sandy%20EA%203-30-21.pdfWhat local residents are most afraid of is water."There is no water in the state of Arizona. Everyone is fighting for water. Here, in this area, it’s arid and there’s not a lot of water. Whatever water there is here has already been taken by farming and ranching. To allow a big industry to come in that’s going to use tons of water and ruin our water system ... then it’s a big problem," Powskey said. "This place can’t support something that uses a lot of water, whether it’s lithium or not. We’re all in support of changing our consumption of fossil fuels. But at the cost of the environment just to get that for more cellphones and whatever else, it’s a problem."(-Article)
butThe massive open-pit copper mine in Bagdad to the south, which is run by the Phoenix-based international mining firm Freeport-McMoRan, pumps in water from wells along the Big Sandy River north of Wikieup, according to the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources. And Bell Copper, a Canadian mining firm that has been operating in the area for years, began a new round of drilling in March 2021. (-Article)
And Bradda Head Holdings(Hwk neighborhood) got approval, too.
(But already, some of the projects are running into opposition. The proposed new mine in Nevada, Thacker Pass — a project originally approved by the Trump administration — has garnered backlash from local environmental watchdogs and indigenous communities. Several lawsuits have been filed to halt the project.(-Article)
Hawkstone Mining completed its first round of exploratory drilling in the area. Based off of those findings, Doug Pitts, U.S. general manager for Hawkstone Mining, told Phoenix New Times that there is at least 320,000 metric tons of lithium in the area, and at lithium's current market price, the company stands to make a considerable profit. Pitts said that if they can produce 20,000 tons of battery-grade lithium per year, that will net an estimated $260 million in annual gross revenue. "It’s an attractive deposit," he said. "The prices are still going up."(-Article)
(Hwk will do more drilling in bigsandy.)
Pitts claimed that the exploratory drilling won't go deep enough to hit the aquifer that feeds Cofer Hot Springs. The max depth for the drill holes will be 360 feet, and he believes the water table is located at 700 feet. But the Hualapai Tribal leadership thinks the water table is much higher. Bungart, the tribe's historic preservation officer, said that measurements recently taken at a nearby well by a geo-hydrologist contracted by the tribe show that the bottom of the well is located at 306 feet. The geo-hydrologist allegedly first encountered water at 69 feet, according to Bungart.
Pitts said that he's offered to meet with the Hualapai Tribe and their geo-hydrologist to go over their findings. Hawkstone Mining is also open to putting up "sound berms" near Cholla Canyon Ranch to mitigate the noise from the drilling, as well as financing a new cultural center for the tribe.
But, ultimately, the company has "no intention" of scuttling the project due to the tribe's concerns. "If they say 'we don’t want anything you have to offer,' it’s probably going to come down to a decision that federal agencies make and there’s probably going to be a lot of litigation," Pitts said. "We think the project is going to be so good and enough in it for all of us, including them. We’re not going to give up yet." (-Article)
It's unclear exactly how much water the Big Sandy Lithium Mine Project would use. Pitts said that the mine itself will require, at most, an estimated 130,000 gallons of water per ton of lithium produced. And with the possibility of producing 20,000 tons of battery-grade lithium per year, the total water usage figure starts to add up quickly. However, Pitts also claimed that Hawkstone Mining will be able to reduce their water consumption by using effluent water from Kingman, which is treated sewage water that isn't potable. He also said that the company is considering shipping the extracted lithium to Houston, Texas for processing. But, ultimately, some groundwater will likely be used from both Kingman and Wikieup.
"We’ll never get to zero. We’re still going to need water," Pitts said. "Our biggest challenge is getting that water." He added that buying privately held land in the region and building wells would be one way to get water for the project. But Pitts acknowledged that using local ground water will attract "real hard scrutiny."(-Article)
(20min delay)
