More expansive than the island of Manhattan, Thacker Pass in northern Nevada is the biggest U.S. lithium-mining project developed in decades. And it’s been one of the country’s most visible flash points in the race to build new critical-mineral mines. While at first spurred by the clean-energy transition, the demand for critical minerals is now driven by their role as essential ingredients for AI data centers.
But local communities aren’t so sure. In northern Nevada, the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe has protested Thacker Pass, saying it would destroy sacred Indigenous sites, while climate advocates have tried to thread the needle between its potential to produce lithium, a key component of some rechargeable-battery technology needed to manufacture electric vehicles, and mining’s risks to the local environment. Today, Thacker Pass is grinding ahead alongside dozens of other projects in the U.S. facing similar concerns.
Much of the world’s critical-mineral supply chain currently runs through China, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to geopolitical wrangling. The success of the ongoing American mining renaissance will shape whether the U.S. and other allies can insulate themselves from such challenges—not to mention power the transition to renewable energy. “It is the most important emerging energy-security question,” says Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency.
Chat piles from historic lead and zinc mines in Picher, Okla., on Nov. 11, 2024. Windblown dust and rain carry lead and other heavy metals from the piles into the surrounding environment. The EPA estimates cleanup of the remaining chat at the Tar Creek Superfund site will take another 50 years.Rebecca Jim, executive director of the Local Environmental Action Demanded (LEAD) Agency, on Nov. 14, 2024. LEAD is a community organization advocating for residents affected by legacy mining pollution around the Tar Creek Superfund site.Downtown Miami (left, middle) and Afton (right), Okla., communities within the Tar Creek Superfund site, where residents continue to live with the legacy of historic lead and zinc mining.Left: Jill Micka displays the fistula used for dialysis, Nov. 12, 2024. She often swam in Tar Creek while growing up in Miami, Okla., and believed childhood exposure to lead contributed to her kidney disease. Micka died in Dec. 2024. Right: A flooded mine shaft in Picher, Okla., Nov. 11, 2024. After mining ended in the 1970s, abandoned tunnels and shafts gradually filled with groundwater, eventually carrying dissolved metals into Tar Creek.Abandoned mine works in Picher, Okla., Nov. 11, 2024.Billy Forbis in Dotyville, Okla., on Nov. 17, 2024, revisits the home where he lived while recovering from methamphetamine addiction. Now in recovery, he helps other community members with addiction issues. Forbis grew up in nearby Picher, a former lead- and zinc-mining center evacuated in 2009 because of contamination and unsafe conditions.Across political parties and ideological camps, policymakers agree the U.S. must bring some mining and processing capacity home. But many environmentalists and local communities remain concerned about how it’s happening, with 40 mining projects listed as part of a federal fast-track program and projects moving quickly. Today’s rapid development, captured in these up-close images of the new mining boom, will set new precedents for what companies must do—or could get away with—when they want to build megamines. There are no easy answers.
Dr. Wendsler Nosie, founder of Apache Stronghold, an Apache-led nonprofit opposing the proposed Resolution Copper mine, at Oak Flat in Arizona's Tonto National Forest, July 14, 2026. Resolution Copper could become one of the largest copper mines in North America, supplying copper for electric vehicles, power grids, and other infrastructure while transforming Oak Flat, a landscape sacred to the San Carlos Apache and other Tribal Nations.Near the historic Mount Taylor uranium mine outside Grants, N.M., July 19, 2026. The surrounding Mount Taylor region contains one of the country's largest known uranium reserves. Nearby, the proposed La Jara Mesa uranium mine is advancing through the federal permitting process as a FAST-41 project.Carmen Lucas is a 90-year-old from the Kwaaymii tribe in California and has been fighting mining developments for over two decades. Her list of grievances is long. Development creates local pollution that harms children’s health and can damage the cultural heritage of Indigenous sites. More than anything, she criticizes developers for treating the land as if it’s empty. “Washington is looking at the Imperial Valley and saying that’s just a desert, that’s just wasteland,” she says. Today, she is championing opposition to a project to tap into a lithium reserve beneath the southern end of California’s Salton Sea, where reserves are worth more than $500 billion. “It has been mandated by the United States government and the state of California to annihilate the California Indians since the Gold Rush,” she says. “And I’m still watching it today.”
Lucas and the Kwaaymii tribe are far from alone. Globally, more than half of the minerals needed for the energy transition are on or near the land of Indigenous or other land-connected peoples, according to research published in the journal Nature Sustainability. Historically, these communities have been displaced, or suffered from polluted air and water as a result—even long after the mines close. At the former site of the Tar Creek mine in Oklahoma, which stopped operating in the 1970s, for example, generations have suffered from the mining remnants that have seeped into the soil and ground-water, leading to neurological damage and stunting development in local children.
In the U.S., community buy-in is often the biggest factor determining whether a project will receive the necessary permits. “You have to embrace social license to operate and say it’s not just a real thing, it’s as important, if not more, than the permit,” says Pat Risner, the president of mining company South32’s zinc and manganese Hermosa Project in Arizona. (Getting and maintaining social license to operate remains difficult for any mining company, given the array of community concerns.)
The context at the federal level has also changed. While the Biden Administration touted the need to boost domestic critical-mineral production, action came relatively slowly. But when Beijing countered President Trump’s massive tariffs by threatening U.S. supplies of critical minerals, his Administration found incentive to accelerate permitting and put up federal dollars to buy into companies. Given the stakes, critical-minerals advocates want to avoid the issue becoming partisan, politics being yet another needle for minders to thread. To many of the people on the front lines, though, none of this matters too much. They just want to ensure that this mining revival doesn’t harm their communities.
Thacker Pass Lithium Mine ProjectHumboldt County, Northern NevadaAn 18,000-acre project site with billions of dollars of lithium underground, Thacker Pass is the flagship U.S. lithium project. With bipartisan federal support, it broke ground in 2023 after clearing a range of permitting hurdles. And yet a bitter taste remains for some community members who say that Thacker Pass will damage historic sites sacred to the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe tribes. Others have spoken out in support thanks to the promise of economic development beyond the 1,000 people who work on the site. The project, a priority for the Trump Administration, has also received attention for its unique financing structure. The Department of Energy took a 5% equity stake in both the project and the company developing it.
Construction workers install rebar for a wall that will contain ore for processing at the Thacker Pass lithium mine, Nevada, May 19, 2026.Administrative offices that will house operations staff, maintenance personnel, and plant operators, Orovada, Nev., May 19, 2026.Lithium Americas, the company developing the Thacker Pass lithium mine, says it has spent more than a decade working with nearby communities and tribal governments. The company has funded a new K–8 school in Orovada and signed a Community Benefits Agreement with the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, though the project continues to face opposition from other tribal nations and environmental organizations.A member of People of Red Mountain, an Indigenous group working to protect ancestral lands from mining in the McDermitt Caldera, looks toward construction at the Thacker Pass lithium mine on Sept. 13, 2025. The group fears Thacker Pass and other proposed mining projects could turn the caldera into a mining district, further restricting access to ancestral lands and threatening water, wildlife and cultural traditions. Each September, members gather at Peehee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass), which Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone people identify as the site of an 1865 massacre of their ancestors by the First Nevada Cavalry.The McDermitt Caldera, an ancient volcanic basin surrounded by mountains and spanning northern Nevada and southern Oregon, contains one of the world’s largest known lithium deposits. The Thacker Pass lithium mine is under construction at the caldera’s southern end, on the Nevada side.Indigenous peoples, generational ranchers, rural communities—we shouldn’t be sacrificed in the name of the greater good. A lot of people think they are doing great by buying an electric car, but they don’t realize who that is impacting.—Chanda Callao, Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribal memberA large processing facility under construction at the Thacker Pass lithium project in northern Nevada on May 19, 2026.Tim Abel, Vice President of Project Construction for Lithium Americas, at Thacker Pass, Nevada, May 19, 2026. Abel joined Lithium Americas in 2022 after 17 years with engineering firm Fluor.Construction at the stainless-steel converter for Thacker Pass’s sulfuric acid plant, which will produce the acid needed to extract lithium from clay, May 19, 2026.Black Hills MinesSouthwestern South DakotaDemand for gold has skyrocketed thanks to geopolitical tensions and supply-chain disruptions. The mines in the Black Hills area of South Dakota, which date back to the 19th century, are now seeing a modern-day gold rush. Even as gold production has dwindled, revenues have soared thanks to higher prices driven by gold’s role as a safe-haven asset as well as its role in advanced electronics and aerospace. Mining companies want to produce more.
But the mining revival extends beyond gold. The Dewey Burdock Uranium Project, also in Black Hills, is being fast-tracked by the federal government to serve the growing demand for nuclear power. Tribes are fighting back mine by mine, citing everything from threats to sacred land to water contamination. Indeed, the nearby history carries warnings. Past uranium mining contaminated local water systems.
The Wharf Mine in Lead, S.D., photographed on Oct. 14, 2025, is the state's only active gold mine.One thing that is unique in the American West is our mining is still governed by the 1872 mining law, which was designed specifically to encourage westward expansion and the staking of mine claims on Indigenous lands, and it includes no environmental provisions. There's no requirement to get the consent from tribes whose lands mining affects.—Jared Naimark, Western Mining Senior Manager at EarthworksBuffalo Gap, historically known to the Lakota as the Buffalo Gate, is a natural passage from the Great Plains into the Black Hills. For centuries, it served as a migration route for bison and Indigenous peoples before the Black Hills gold rush transformed it into a boomtown in the 1880s.Ihúnkiya Opá (Craven Canyon), a sacred and culturally significant site near the Dewey-Burdock uranium project.Pictographs in Ihúnkiya Opá, Fall River, South Dakota, Sept. 29, 2025.Helen Red Feather at her home in Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Oct. 10, 2025.The Black Hills, Bear Butte, Mato Tipila, all these sacred spots here in South Dakota, those are our Bibles. That's where we go to pray.—Francisca Tobacco, Resident of Pine Ridge ReservationSheridan Gates in Nebraska’s northern Panhandle on Oct. 9, 2025. The rock formation lies near the Black Hills in a landscape considered vulnerable to mining impacts.Marvin Goings at his home on the Pine Ridge Reservation on Oct. 9, 2025. He feared that elevated uranium levels associated with historic mining in the Black Hills had contributed to his brain cancer. After a long battle with the disease, he died on May 20, 2026.Helen Red Feather hauls water to her home on the Pine Ridge reservation from a nearby church on Oct. 10, 2025. Around 169 abandoned uranium mines and prospects lie upstream of the reservation, where radioactive contaminants have been detected in the drinking water.Francisca Tobacco examines a shower head at her home on the Pine Ridge Reservation; rocks and sand had collected in it after passing through aging water pipes.At the home of Francisca Tobacco, Red Shirt, South Dakota, Nov. 15, 2025. Red Shirt lies along the Cheyenne River on the northwestern edge of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The river has a history of mining-related pollution and continues to face other water-quality problems.Riley Pass, an abandoned uranium mine in Harding County, South Dakota, Nov. 19, 2025.Hell's Kitching Lithium ProjectImperial Valley, CaliforniaThe Hell’s Kitchen megaproject on the shore of California’s Salton Sea is a $1.8 billion bet on a massive, first-of-its-kind geothermal power and lithium-extraction facility. Developers aim to start up the facility’s new geothermal power production first, with lithium mining to follow. While the county and Controlled Thermal Resources, the mine’s owner, last year defeated a lawsuit that attempted to halt operations there, community opposition remains strong and opponents are appealing. The project sits in a low-income, heavily Latino, environmentally over-burdened valley with some of the worst air quality in the country. Tensions are also rife over the mine’s water consumption and the terms of its community-benefit agreement. Meanwhile, as demand for lithium for EV batteries has softened, the company has emphasized that both its geothermal energy and minerals can serve the AI-driven data-center boom.
Mud from the geothermal mud pots near the Salton Sea, Calipatria, Calif. The same geothermal system that feeds these bubbling pools contains lithium-rich brines.Kwayymii Laguna elder Carmen Lucas visits the mud pots on the edge of the Salton Sea, Calipatria, Calif., with with a geothermal plant visible in the background. A former U.S. Marine and longtime advocate for protecting tribal cultural landscapes, Lucas describes water as "one of the most, if not the most, sacred elements within this universe that we all share."The drying Salton Sea, Calipatria, Calif., Feb 5, 2025.The Salton Sea, seen from Bombay Beach, Calif., March 3, 2026.Esther Cañez at her daughter's home in Heber, Calif. She is being treated for severe persistent asthma, which she attributes to the region's poor air quality.Smoke from agricultural burning fills the air in California's Imperial Valley, where residents contend with some of the nation's worst air quality.Smoke from agricultural burning in California's Imperial Valley, Feb. 4, 2026.South32 HermosaPatagonia, ArizonaSouth32 Hermosa is emerging as the next big case study for the future of U.S. mining. The $2 billion zinc and manganese project was the first mining project to receive expedited federal permitting under a streamlined process earlier this year. Unlike most mining mega-projects, which require huge open pits, the Hermosa project is underground, minimizing the visible footprint. “We will mine for up to 70 years at this site, and only disturb 750 acres in total,” says Pat Risner, the project’s president.
Still, many community tensions remain unresolved. The project sits in a biodiversity hot spot, home to jaguars and Mexican spotted owls, and locals are concerned that mining operations may pollute the groundwater they rely on for household use. Negotiations over a community-benefits agreement remain ongoing.
Inside the exploration decline at Hermosa, 600 ft. below the surface.Miners enter the personnel conveyance at the main shaft, July 16, 2026.Shadows of miners at Hermosa on July 16, 2026.Core samples are used to map and evaluate the underground mineral deposit.Tyrel Todd at Hermosa on July 16, 2025. Todd has worked in mining for 19 years and is currently a shaft-sinking contractor at the mine.A storm rolls through Hermosa mine on July 16, 2026.It would be a real shame if future generations couldn't see the beauty of this place, and without water, that will be the reality.—Susan Wethington, Resident in Harshaw, ArizonaThe San Rafael Valley, known for its abundant wildlife, lies adjacent to the Hermosa mine, whose development has raised concerns about impacts on the surrounding landscape.Susan Wethington has lived without running water since contamination was detected in her well. She says she believes the problem is linked to activity upstream at the Hermosa project. South32 disputes Wethington’s claim that its activities caused the problems with her well, telling TIME that the issues predate their mining and that their data “does not support her assertions.”A sink in Susan Wethington's home along Harshaw Creek, just south of the Hermosa mine, July 11, 2025.Water samples collected from Susan Wethington’s well by Chris Gardner, a retired hydrogeologist and groundwater lead for Friends of Sonoita Creek, which monitors water quality near the Hermosa project.Nancy Coyote checks an air filter at her home in the Patagonia Mountains on July 9, 2025. A retired U.S. Forest Service employee, Coyote moved to the region in 2012 and now advocates for protecting its water and wildlife from the potential impacts of the nearby Hermosa mine.This whole mountain range and out into the valley, everywhere there's public lands, federal lands...there are mining claim stakes. So, if things got really ugly, there could be a drill rig right across the road from me.—Nancy Coyote, A resident of Mowry, Ariz., in the Patagonia Mountains.Becky and John Ball at their home in Patagonia, Ariz., July 15, 2025. They received a proposed South32 agreement that would have required them to waive groundwater-related claims in exchange for well monitoring and mitigation.John Nordstrom in a historic abandoned mine near his home in southern Arizona, July 9, 2025.Stibnite MineValley County, IdahoIn central Idaho, developers are bringing an abandoned World War II–era mining district back to life to produce gold and antimony, a mineral used to harden other metals and as a fire retardant. U.S. government officials say the mine is the only one in the U.S. capable of producing enough antimony to meet growing defense needs, for everything from ammunition to infrared sensors. Critics point to company documents showing the site contains only enough to supply the U.S. for two years. Indeed, the vast majority of the project’s revenue will come from gold. After a nine-year process, it received its final permit in May 2025 and broke ground in October. But lawsuits remain ongoing. The Nez Perce Tribe opposes the project in its entirety, saying the permitting decision violates treaty rights and environmental law. And new mining threatens to upend millions spent by the tribe on restoring the local salmon population harmed by mining decades ago. Conservation groups are suing too, because of potential harm to local wildlife. Developers contend that their work will actually remediate the area, since the site was left abandoned in poor condition.
The Stibnite Gold Project site, an open pit gold and antimony mine in the Salmon River Mountains, June 6, 2026.Tyndall Meadows in Idaho's Salmon River Mountains lie along the proposed mining truck access route for the Stibnite Gold Project, June 4, 2026.The one-lane Stibnite Road carries both mine and local traffic to the remote town of Yellow Pine, Idaho, where residents have raised concerns about road safety as mine traffic is expected to increase.Lorinne Munn, a Yellow Pine resident since 2002, at the Yellow Pine General Store on June 6, 2026. The remote Idaho town, home to about 37 year-round residents, relies on tourism, but residents say much of its limited housing has been rented to mine workers and contractors.Summer Chinook salmon at the McCall Fish Hatchery in McCall, Idaho, June 8, 2026. The hatchery releases nearly one million smolts each spring into the South Fork Salmon River watershed.The Middle Fork of the Salmon River in central Idaho, June 7, 2026. Home to Chinook salmon, steelhead, and bull trout, the federally designated Wild and Scenic River flows through one of the largest contiguous roadless areas in the United States.Nez Perce tribal member Aaron Penny fishes the East Fork of the South Fork Salmon River on June 30, 2026. He gave his sons middle names tied to the river: sist’óc, meaning “fish spear,” and watáaspa, the place where the South Fork meets the Salmon River. Since the river was diverted for mining at the Yellow Pine Pit in 1938, salmon have been unable to reach their historic spawning grounds. Perpetua Resources has proposed restoring fish passage through a tunnel and fishway, though whether the system will successfully support salmon migration remains uncertain.A tattoo on Nez Perce tribal member Aaron Penny depicts the traditional practice of spearing Chinook salmon, a technique used by his father and grandfather before him, June 30, 2026.The watershed of the South Fork of the Salmon River, July 1, 2026.— With reporting by Kaya Lee Berne
The writing in this story is supported by a partnership with Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. TIME is solely responsible for the content.
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