In designing Thacker Pass, we planned for closure well before we started construction in early 2023. In 2019, we entered into a mine design, consulting and mine operations agreement with Sawtooth Mining, a NACCO Natural Resources company. Sawtooth has exclusive responsibility for the design, construction, operation, maintenance, mining and mine closure services for Thacker Pass.
NACCO Natural Resources brings a 110-year old legacy of mining experience through the NACCO portfolio of companies. Their extensive reclamation history has earned them 99 federal and state awards for environmental excellence in the last 45 years, with more than 60,000 acres of land reclaimed, 66 miles of streams reconstructed and more than 1,400 acres of wetlands restored. In addition, NACCO has planted more than 10 million trees.
For Thacker Pass, plans are in place to initiate reclamation at the earliest economically and technically feasible date on portions of disturbed areas that are no longer required for operations. This early initiation of concurrent pit backfill and concurrent site reclamation will stabilize soil, reduce dust and naturalize runoff.
Activities will include recontouring, regrading, scarifying, placing of growth media and revegetating disturbed areas. Facility footprints, roads, stockpiles and other miscellaneous surface disturbances will be reclaimed concurrently when they are no longer required for operations. Additionally, the gradual but permanent reclamation of bench slopes for the clay tailings filter stack, coarse gangue stockpiles and waste rock storage facility will occur concurrently with the operational phase of the project.
In February 2022, Lithium Americas received its Reclamation Permit from NDEP-BMRR, approving the Company's reclamation plan for the first 10 years of operations. In February 2023, Lithium Americas posted satisfactory surety for reclamation to initiate the initial earth clearing and grubbing phase of construction. The Company plans to post surety for the next 10 years of construction and operations in Q4 2023.
Watch this video (opens in new window) to visualize how the site will be mined and reclaimed over the 40-year life of mine.