Lithium miner cited for violating endangered flower habitat

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Five days after the U.S. Energy Department announced a $700 million conditional loan to an Australian company for a lithium mine in Nevada, federal land managers cited the developer for trespassing within the habitat of an endangered wildflower. The Bureau of Land Management said in the formal notice to Ioneer that it has confirmed the disturbance occurred within habitat critical to Tiehm’s buckwheat. Federal wildlife officials say the plant is on the brink of extinction. The BLM said the disturbance was prohibited under a permit it issued Ioneer in November to drill for underground samples at the proposed mine site.