The US Department of the Interior allegedly failed to take a hard look at the environmental risks of potash mining in Utah’s West Desert and explore reasonable alternatives to the project, an environmentalist group said in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the District of Utah on Aug. 14, according to Bloomberg Law.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) sued the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the agency’s decision to approve a large-scale surface mining project across the Sevier Lake bed. Sevier Lake sits in a largely undisturbed area of the desert and serves as an important stop-over habitat for millions of migratory birds, according to the complaint.
The mining project would allow Salt Lake City-based Peak Minerals Inc. to extract sulfate of potash for approximately 32 years. Peak eventually expects to produce as much as 372,000 st/y, according to the report.
SUWA alleged the BLM shirked its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to consider reasonable alternatives to the mining project. Though the BLM’s final impact statement contained five alternatives to the approved plan, SUWA said not one represents the “middle-ground” and instead offer only minor variations to largely the same plan.
The organization also said the BLM didn’t look closely enough at the impact mining could have on Sevier Lake’s water quality where it discharges at Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, as required by the NEPA.
SUWA asked the court to set aside BLM’s final impact statement and stop the agency from taking further action on the project until they comply with NEPA requirements. The BLM, which typically doesn’t comment on pending litigation, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.
In March, Peak entered into a convertible loan agreement with a global strategic investor to invest $30 million in the continued development of the project (GM April 14, p. 1). The proceeds are to be used to fund front-end engineering and design (FEED), complete final permitting activities, prepare the site in advance of construction, refinance the company’s existing senior debt obligations, and for general corporate purposes.
As part of the loan agreement, Peak and the investor have also entered into a binding term sheet for the long-term supply of 65,000 st/y of SOP from Phase 1 of the project, which is targeting total initial SOP production of 215,000 st/y.
Peak is a wholly owned subsidiary of EMR Capital Resources Fund 1 LP, a natural resources focused investment fund managed by EMR Capital, a specialist resources private equity manager.
Peak, formerly known as Crystal Peak Minerals Inc., has been pursuing the Utah project since at least 2016 (GM July 1, 2016). In 2020, citing its lack of success in raising funds to proceed with the project, EMR, its largest shareholder, foreclosed and the company restructured. EMR said the process left the Sevier Playa project intact with its mineral leases unaffected (GM Oct. 23, 2020) and that it planned to continue to develop the project under private ownership.