AMARGOSA VALLEY — The future of the delicate, groundwater-dependent Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge may hinge on whether the Trump administration approves a 20-year pause on new mining claims.
About 50 people rallied at the Amargosa Valley Community Center Thursday afternoon to show their support for the proposed “mineral withdrawal” around the refuge. In the Biden administration’s final days, residents, local Native tribes and environmentalists celebrated an initial approval that granted a temporary, two-year suspension of any new mining claims.
Officials from the Bureau of Land Management are expected to host a public meeting at the community center following the rally, meant to solicit public input about the proposal for a 20-year pause.
The grassroots campaign to keep exploratory lithium drilling out of the town of Amargosa Valley was started by the Amargosa Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preservation of the Amargosa River that flows from the town of Beatty westward into Death Valley National Park. Organizers formed a coalition of residents, environmentalists, local officials and the Timbisha Shoshone tribe.
It was a response to hundreds of mineral claims established by prospecting company Rover Critical Minerals, a Canadian company that sought federal approval to find out if enough lithium was below the surface. A company executive told town residents that the plan was to later sell off the mineral claims to a bigger company.
Members of the coalition met with Interior Department officials in Washington, D.C., last year after collecting letters of support from Nevada’s congressional delegation, a Nevada interim legislative committee and the Nye County Commission.
Amargosa Valley, where residents fear domestic wells they rely on for drinking water may dry up, is a stone’s throw from Ash Meadows, the refuge where more than 12 threatened and endangered species live.
That includes the Devils Hole pupfish, an endemic species thought to be the rarest fish in the world. Rover executives and its hired hydrologist have repeatedly denied that drilling would affect Ash Meadows, but other groups have conducted a separate hydrological analysis that suggests otherwise.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
