ioneer

ioneer Ltd. is an emerging lithium-boron mining company developing the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Esmeralda County, Nevada - the only known lithium-boron deposit in North America with commercial-scale, high-grade concentrations of both minerals. Originally incorporated in 2001 as Global Geoscience Limited and listed on the ASX in 2007, the company rebranded to ioneer in 2018 (a portmanteau of "ion" and "pioneer") to reflect its pivot to critical mineral production. After acquiring the Rhyolite Ridge asset in 2017 and completing a Definitive Feasibility Study in 2020, ioneer now holds a fully permitted, construction-ready greenfield project that will mine and process both lithium carbonate and boric acid on-site in Nevada. The project holds reserves of 60 million tonnes and a total mineral resource of 146.4 million tonnes, with projected annual output of over 20,000 tonnes of lithium battery materials and 170,000 tonnes of borates.

What makes Rhyolite Ridge technically distinctive is its unique mineralogy - driven by the presence of the boron mineral searlesite - which enables co-production of lithium and boron from a single mining and processing flowsheet. This co-production model dramatically lowers the cost structure compared to standalone lithium operations, placing Rhyolite Ridge in a globally competitive cost position on a lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) basis. The project is also designed for minimal environmental impact: it features on-site CO₂-free power generation (independent of the grid), no evaporation ponds or tailings dams, and best-in-class water recycling that uses 30 times less water per tonne than existing U.S. lithium production. The project has secured offtake agreements with Ford, Prime Planet Energy & Solutions (a Toyota-Panasonic JV), and EcoPro Innovation.

ioneer is a critical player in the U.S. energy supply chain because Rhyolite Ridge will be only the second operational lithium project in the United States - at a time when U.S. automakers are entirely dependent on foreign mines and Asian processors for battery-grade lithium. In January 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office closed a landmark $996 million loan guarantee (under the ATVM program) to Ioneer Rhyolite Ridge LLC - one of the largest DOE critical minerals loans in history. The project is expected to support lithium supply for over 370,000 EVs per year, reduce annual gasoline consumption by ~176 million gallons, and prevent 1.56 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually. It is also expected to create up to 500 construction jobs and approximately 350 permanent operations jobs in Nevada.