This Nevada supervolcano is sitting on $1.5 trillion in lithium

The Largest Find in the World

The McDermitt Caldera straddles the Nevada-Oregon border, a 45-kilometer-wide scar left by a supervolcano that collapsed 16 million years ago.

Scientists now believe it holds between 20 and 40 million metric tons of lithium-rich clay, worth an estimated $1. 5 trillion at current prices.

If that estimate holds, it would surpass Bolivia’s famous salt flats as the largest lithium deposit on Earth.

Construction is already underway at the Thacker Pass mine on the caldera’s southern rim, with around 700 workers on site. But the land holds another history.

Paiute tribes call this place Peehee Mu’huh, meaning “rotten moon,” named for ancestors massacred here by U. S. Cavalry in 1865 and left unburied.

The mine is moving forward anyway, and the reasons why say a lot about what America will sacrifice for its battery future.

A Supervolcano Created Perfect Conditions

About 16 million years ago, a volcanic eruption released roughly 1,000 cubic kilometers of material, and the emptied magma chamber collapsed into a massive crater.

The McDermitt Caldera is possibly the oldest in a sequence formed by the Yellowstone hotspot, the same geological force that powers Yellowstone today.

A lake filled the crater for millions of years, collecting volcanic ash and sediment. Hydrothermal activity pushed lithium-rich fluids up through faults and into the lakebed clay.

At Thacker Pass, the lithium-infused clay bands are 100 feet thick and close enough to the surface for open-pit mining.

America Had Only One Lithium Mine

The U. S. has relied on the Silver Peak Mine in Nevada since the 1960s. It produces less than 5,000 tons annually, which is less than 2% of the global supply.

Meanwhile, China controls roughly 70 percent of lithium processing. That imbalance became a strategic problem as electric vehicle demand surged.

Some analysts expect global lithium demand to expand to eight times 2022 output by 2040. The McDermitt discovery changed the math.

If the hypothesis is accurate, the caldera contains nearly double the lithium deposits found in Bolivia’s salt flats, which previously held the record for the world’s largest.

Lithium Americas Secured the Rights

Lithium Americas, a Canadian company, obtained mining rights at Thacker Pass on the caldera’s southern edge.

The site sits about 60 miles northwest of Winnemucca, Nevada, covering 18,000 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

General Motors invested $650 million in the project through a joint venture, securing an exclusive 15-year agreement to purchase the lithium. The total cost for Phase 1 reached about $3 billion.

The U. S. Department of Energy provided a $2. 26 billion loan to support construction.

The Paiute Call This Place Rotten Moon

Thacker Pass is the traditional homeland of several related Indigenous nations, including the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe. In Paiute, the place is called Peehee Mu’huh, meaning “rotten moon.”

The name came from a massacre when hunters returned to find their loved ones murdered, unburied, and rotting in a part of the pass shaped like a crescent.

On September 12, 1865, Company E of the 1st Nevada Cavalry attacked a Paiute camp and slaughtered at least 31 and possibly more than 50 men, women, children, and elders. Tribal members say their ancestors are buried here.

Permits Came Fast During COVID

The BLM permitted the mine in under a year, during COVID lockdowns when reservations across Nevada were shut down.

Most regional tribes, including the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, were not even aware of the planned mine until after the Final Environmental Impact Statement was released in January 2021.

A 2025 report by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU found that the permitting process violated Indigenous people’s rights to religion, culture, and their ancestral lands under international human rights law.

Lithium Americas says it consulted with the Fort McDermitt tribe, which signed a Community Benefits Agreement in October 2022.

Three Tribes Sued to Stop It

The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Burns Paiute Tribe, and Summit Lake Paiute Tribe filed lawsuits arguing that the BLM failed its trust responsibility to tribes.

They demanded consultation under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act, stating that the BLM and non-native archaeologists lacked expertise to determine whether the property held religious or cultural importance.

Environmental groups and a local rancher filed separate suits over endangered species habitat and water rights. After two years of legal battles, all three lawsuits failed.

Courts Sided With the Government

U. S. District Judge Miranda Du ruled that evidence presented by the tribes did not definitely establish that a massacre occurred within the proposed project site.

On July 17, 2023, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the bid to block construction, deferring to the expertise of the Bureau of Land Management.

In December 2023, the second tribal lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice after the tribes failed to submit an amended complaint within thirty days. Construction resumed and has continued since.

$2.26 Billion Sealed the Deal

In late 2025, Lithium Americas secured its first drawdown of $435 million from the Department of Energy loan. On April 1, 2025, the company announced the final investment decision for Phase 1.

The first permanent concrete was placed in the processing plant area in May 2025, and the project is on track for first steel installation in September 2025.

The project will create almost 2,000 construction jobs, with Bechtel serving as the engineering and construction management contractor.

Production Starts in Late 2027

Phase 1 is expected to be completed in late 2027, with commercial production beginning in early 2028.

The mine will produce 40,000 tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year, enough to supply batteries for up to 800,000 electric vehicles annually.

The project outlines an 85-year mine life, with optimized production for the first 25 years at operating costs of $6,238 per tonne, positioning Thacker Pass as one of the lowest-cost producers globally.

Lithium Americas plans to eventually expand to 160,000 tonnes per year across five phases.

The Debate Will Outlast the Mine

The conflict between Indigenous communities and Lithium Americas may set a precedent for future conflicts between tribal groups and mining interests.

Gary McKinney, a descendant of one of the three survivors of the 1865 massacre, says the land holds natural gardens, springs, and medicines his people have harvested for generations.

Lithium Americas says the project will help America build a domestic supply chain and reduce dependence on foreign minerals. For the first time, the U.S. will be able to choose a completely domestic supply chain for electric vehicle batteries.

Both sides believe they are fighting for the future. Only one got to decide what happens to the land.

Visiting McDermitt Caldera, Nevada

The McDermitt Caldera sits on public BLM land straddling the Nevada-Oregon border. The town of McDermitt is on U.S. Highway 95, about 73 miles north of Winnemucca.

Thacker Pass itself is approximately 60 miles northwest of Winnemucca and about 21 miles west of the small community of Orovada.

There are no visitor facilities at the caldera, and the Thacker Pass area is now an active construction zone. The caldera rim offers views of rhyolite lava formations and intracaldera sediments.

Bring your own water, fuel up in Winnemucca, and expect no cell service. This is remote, high desert country with extreme temperatures.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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