🌱 How does the mine violate Indigenous Peoples’ rights?
One of the world’s largest known deposits of lithium is located at Thacker Pass in Nevada, USA. Currently, the construction of an 18000-acre (or 72.8 km2) mining project is ongoing at the site. Lithium Americas plans to extract large quantities of lithium here. According to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on 6 February 2025, the U.S. government’s decision to issue the mining permit violates Indigenous People’s rights. It is worth noting that Indigenous rights to religion, culture, and ancestral lands are protected under international human rights law. According to HRW and ACLU, at least six Indigenous Tribes have a connection to the land at Thacker Pass. Amongst others, the rights of the Numu/Nuwu and Newe peoples, who find access to the land important for religious and cultural practices, are being violated. The mine has also raised concerns around the right to health, a healthy environment, and water amongst residents.
🌱 Was free, prior, and informed consent received?
The average mining permit process has a duration of 3.1 years at U.S. agencies. As the permit process for the mine at Thacker Pass began on 21 January 2020 and ended on 15 January 2021, the process was considerably shorter than average. According to the HRW and ACLU report, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management authorized the permit for the Thacker Pass mine without obtaining free, prior, and informed consent from the relevant Indigenous Tribes. This, in itself, would be a violation of Indigenous People’s rights. In this context, three Tribal governments have said they received “three rounds of mailings” and that this was the only form of “direct contact” about the mine. While the mailings referred to “consultation”, Indigenous leaders did not feel that a real consultation ever took place. According to HRW and ACLU, Lithium Americas proceeded despite direct “opposition from at least five Tribal governments”. Several Tribes tried to “challenge the adequacy of the consultation process” in court after the mining permit was issued, but this was without any success. In the meantime, one Indigenous Tribe – namely the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe – has “signed an agreement with Lithium Americas and issued a letter supporting the mine”.
🌱 What land rights are impacted?
The permit for the Thacker Pass mine partially relies on a U.S. mining law from 1872. Under this law, U.S. citizens and companies may “claim mineral rights on most federally owned land”. Notably, most of this land was confiscated from Indigenous Peoples. The Thacker Pass mine itself has luckily not displaced any communities. The construction work has, however, prevented Numu/Nuwu and Newe Indigenous peoples from accessing parts of their lands. Having access to the Peehee Mu’huh land is important to the Numu/Nuwu and Newe for their cultural and religious practices. As the land around Thacker Pass “includes areas where people fled and died during an 1865 US cavalry massacre”, Indigenous Tribes annually commemorate the massacre and pay tribute to their lost ancestors on this land.
🌱 What are human rights defenders calling for?
Human rights defenders have called for a halt of the Thacker Pass mine’s construction and a revision of U.S. mining law. They are also calling on the U.S. government to ensure that current and future U.S. mine permit processes fulfill international human rights standards. On 10 January 2025, President Trump stated that his goal was to make the U.S. “the leading producer and processor” of minerals. He instructed the Department of the Interior to “identify all agency actions that impose undue burdens on the domestic mining and processing of […] minerals and undertake steps to revise or rescind such actions”. The broader fast-tracking of mining permits and the waiving of environmental reviews are therefore expected. Human rights defenders hold that the “absence of stronger protections for Indigenous rights, including the right to free, prior, and informed consent, [along with] accelerating and expanding US mineral production threatens the rights of Indigenous peoples to their land, culture, and religion”. In line with this, they are calling on the U.S. government to uphold Indigenous rights and factor in the recommendations of a 2023 interagency working group to reform the 1872 mining law.
Read more about the mining project here:
- https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/02/06/us-lithium-mine-permit-violates-indigenous-peoples-rights
- https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2025/02/us_lithiummining0225%20web.pdf