Lithium Mine in Oregon: McDermitt Project and Permits

There is no operating lithium mine in Oregon today. The state’s lithium story is a drilling programme: Jindalee Lithium’s McDermitt project in southern Malheur County, Oregon, holds a 2023 resource estimate of 3,000 million tonnes at 1,340 parts per million (ppm) lithium, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved up to 168 exploration drill sites in December 2025. The nearest mine under construction, Thacker Pass, is across the border in Nevada, on the same volcanic crater. This guide lays out both projects, the permits that decide what happens next, the environmental questions local groups are raising, and the numbers behind them.

Two units come up often below. A part per million is a grade measure: 1,340 ppm lithium is 0.134% lithium by weight. Lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) is the standard way to compare projects: it restates lithium metal as the weight of lithium carbonate it would make, at about 5.3 tonnes of LCE per tonne of lithium. Resource figures are not mines: a resource is rock that might be mined, and it only becomes a reserve after a feasibility study shows it can be mined at a profit.

Is there a lithium mine in Oregon?

No. The U.S. Geological Survey says commercial-scale lithium production in the United States came from a continental brine operation in Nevada in its 2026 summary, and no Oregon site is producing. What exists in Oregon is exploration. The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) told OPB in December 2021 that Jindalee’s first drilling application appeared to be the first one it had received to explore for lithium in Oregon. That programme covered 39 holes west of the border town of McDermitt, Nevada.

Since then the project has moved from small drilling permits to a five-year federal plan. Whether it ever becomes a mine depends on more drilling, a feasibility study, a full environmental review and state operating permits. None of those steps has been completed in Oregon.

Oregon and nearby lithium projects at a glance

These two are the projects with published resources, permits or construction on the caldera, so they are the ones covered here. The side-by-side below shows how far apart they are.

McDermitt Caldera: why the lithium is here

The McDermitt Caldera is a collapsed volcanic crater about 45 km long and 35 km wide that straddles southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada. A 2023 paper in the journal Science Advances by Benson and colleagues, summarised by Mining.com, dates the caldera to about 19 million years ago, with its last eruption about 16 million years ago. The authors estimated that its lithium-rich claystones hold 20 to 40 million tonnes of lithium. The same coverage notes that this is a rough estimate that depends on clay thickness and grade, and that a lithium company’s staff took part in the study. Treat it as a size of the prize, not a mineable total.

This is a newer style of lithium deposit. Most world supply comes from salt-lake brines and hard-rock pegmatites. McDermitt belongs to a third group, volcano-sedimentary lithium, where lithium-rich fluids altered volcanic ash and lake sediments into clay. Popular Science reports that the study found the richest illite clay concentrated in the caldera’s southern part around Thacker Pass, which is why the Nevada side was developed first. Benson told the press that lithium occurs throughout the caldera, from its northern tip in Oregon to its southern tip in Nevada, and the Oregon project sits in southern Malheur County, near the caldera’s northern end.

Claystone lithium is not the same as a brine or a pegmatite in practice. There are no evaporation ponds and no hard rock to crush at high heat; the clay is dug from open pits and processed to leach the lithium; Lithium Americas’ construction update for Thacker Pass includes a sulfuric acid plant. That is why the water, acid supply and waste clay (tailings) questions dominate permitting for these projects.

McDermitt lithium project in Oregon: resource, drilling and timeline

Jindalee’s figures, as reported by Proactive Investors on 14 August 2026, are a 2023 mineral resource of 3,000 million tonnes grading 1,340 ppm lithium at a 1,000 ppm cut-off, containing about 21.5 million tonnes of LCE. The cut-off grade is the lowest grade counted as ore. Of that total, 1,470 million tonnes at 1,420 ppm is classified as indicated and 1,540 million tonnes at 1,270 ppm as inferred. Indicated means the grade and tonnage are known with reasonable confidence; inferred means they are only roughly known. The company completed a pre-feasibility study in 2024 and is working toward a feasibility study.

Chart

Drill sites: proposed, approved and Phase 1

Exploration drill sites at McDermitt, Malheur County

An earlier Stockhead report, written with Jindalee as an advertiser, describes an exploration target of 300 to 700 million tonnes at 1,100 to 1,400 ppm next to the defined resource, based on 62 holes drilled between 2018 and 2022. An exploration target is a range based on limited data and is not a resource.

The regulatory timeline, from public records:

• By December 2021: DOGAMI had approved a 39-hole drilling programme (OPB, 2 December 2021).
• 27 March 2025: the BLM opens a public comment period on a proposal for 267 drill sites across 7,200 acres, with 30 miles of new access routes; comments were extended to 25 April 2025.
• December 2025: the BLM approves a smaller plan: 168 drill sites on 7,200 acres, up to 73 acres of disturbance, 22 miles of new access routes, drilling between 1 July and 30 November each year for up to five years, with reclamation after each season.
• August 2026: HiTech Minerals reports the last state-level permit it needed from DOGAMI for Phase 1 of up to 100 drill sites. Drilling was planned for September 2026 once a wildfire waiver was issued.
• 5 October 2026: HiTech Minerals and Constellation Acquisition Corp I announced that Phase 1 infill and environmental drilling had started. The 2026 season targets about one-third of the up to 100 Phase 1 sites and is expected to finish by the end of November; first results are now expected in the first quarter of 2027. HiTech Minerals, which owns McDermitt, is due to become a subsidiary of a new Nasdaq-listed company, US Elemental, if the proposed business combination closes (targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026).

Phase 1 targets the central part of the deposit inside the mine design from the pre-feasibility study. The company says it wants to raise confidence in the indicated and inferred categories and to collect samples for metallurgical tests, plus geotechnical and hydrogeological data. Those are the inputs a feasibility study needs before any mining application.

Thacker Pass: the Nevada mine on the same caldera

Most searches for Oregon lithium end up at Thacker Pass, which is in Humboldt County, Nevada. Lithium Americas reported on 13 August 2026 that Phase 1 is designed for 40,000 tonnes a year of battery-quality lithium carbonate, with mechanical completion targeted for late 2027. More than 1,600 workers were on site, and US$1.8 billion of construction and project costs had been capitalised by 30 June 2026. The company had received US$1.209 billion in cumulative advances on its US Department of Energy loan.

The US government also holds an interest: the Department of Energy restructured the loan to take warrants equal to a 5% stake in Lithium Americas and in the joint venture. The site was also the subject of court challenges and tribal opposition; Popular Science notes that many Indigenous groups consider the area sacred, and KATU reports that legal challenges were dismissed in 2024. For an Oregon reader, Thacker Pass matters as the working example of how this clay is mined and as the likely benchmark for McDermitt’s costs and permitting time.

Permits for lithium exploration in Oregon, step by step

Lithium on federal land in Oregon passes through federal and state steps. The sequence for the McDermitt programme shows the pattern:

Infographic

Oregon lithium exploration permitting in five steps

1. 1Federal work planBLM reviews the plan of operations and takes public comment.
2. 2DOGAMI exploration permitNeeded above one surface acre or drilling deeper than 50 feet.
3. 3Reclamation securityA bond is posted before the permit is issued.
4. 4Seasonal drillingDrilling runs 1 July to 30 November; sites are restored each season.
5. 5Operating permitA mine needs its own DOGAMI permit and environmental review.

1. Federal approval of the work plan. On BLM-managed land, an exploration plan of operations goes through a National Environmental Policy Act review with a public comment period, as the 2025 notice for 267 sites did.
2. A DOGAMI exploration permit. Under ORS 517.705, onshore exploration that disturbs more than one surface acre, or drills deeper than 50 feet, needs a DOGAMI permit. The application names the surface and mineral owners, the contractors, the roads and the number, depth and location of drill holes.
3. Reclamation security. DOGAMI recommends contacting the department at least 180 days before starting work, and other state, federal, tribal and local agencies may also require approval. Exploration permits require a reclamation bond before issue.
4. Seasonal drilling and reclamation. Drilling is limited to 1 July to 30 November, and sites are restored each season.
5. Operating permit. A mine needs a separate DOGAMI operating permit, required when extraction passes one acre of disturbance or 5,000 cubic yards in 12 months, plus the federal environmental review for the mine itself.

One timing point for anyone planning work: DOGAMI has said it will pause new and amended permit applications from 26 October 2026 until its electronic permitting system launches in early 2027. Applicants can prepare materials in advance.

Claims, rights of way and land access are covered in our guide to gold claims for sale in Oregon and the wider Oregon permits and claims guide; the BLM and DOGAMI steps are the same for any metal. Mining licence owners and consultants can also send a project boundary through our mining query form.

How to read an Oregon lithium announcement

Company news on McDermitt mixes terms that mean very different things. Five checks help a claim owner, consultant or investor sort them.

1. Resource or reserve? Jindalee reports a resource. A reserve needs a feasibility study, and none exists for Oregon.
2. Indicated or inferred? About half of the 3,000 million tonnes is inferred, the least certain class. Drilling in Phase 1 is meant to move tonnes from inferred to indicated.
3. What cut-off grade? The 1,340 ppm average counts only rock above 1,000 ppm. A lower cut-off would add tonnes at a lower grade; a higher one would cut tonnes and raise the average.
4. Which study stage? A pre-feasibility study, completed in 2024, is less detailed than a feasibility study and carries wider cost ranges.
5. Which permit? An exploration approval lets a company drill. It does not allow mining. Read the BLM decision record, which the agency links from its National NEPA Register, and the DOGAMI permit conditions.

A tonnage headline such as 21.5 million tonnes of LCE tells you the size of the rock body, not the amount that can be sold. The calculator later in this guide shows how recovery rate and price shrink that figure.

Water, wildlife and ranching: local concerns

Local debate in Malheur County focuses on land use rather than the chemistry. OPB reported on 9 December 2025 that wildlife advocates say the drilling will disturb prime sage grouse habitat, could affect threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout, and covers critical grazing land for ranchers. The BLM decision answers part of this with limits: 73 acres of disturbance across 7,200 acres, a fixed drilling season and reclamation after each season.

The bigger questions come later, if a mine is proposed. A claystone pit needs process water and acid, and it leaves a tailings stack. Those details are set in the feasibility study and the environmental impact statement, not in the exploration approval. Readers who want the comparison should read the Thacker Pass review documents rather than company summaries, because the Nevada site is further along and its water and waste plans are public.

The wider list of mining effects on land, water and communities is explained in our own video on the seven environmental impacts of mining.

▶ The seven environmental impacts of mining, explained in clay animation. · 2:31

How Oregon’s lithium compares with the world

The USGS counts 30 million tons of measured and indicated lithium resources in the United States, from brines, claystone, geothermal brines, hectorite, oilfield brines and pegmatites, out of about 150 million tons worldwide (2026 summary). US reserves, the part considered economic to mine, are 4.4 million tons. Chile and Australia hold larger reserves at 9.2 and 8.4 million tons. Reserves count only what has a mining plan behind it, so large resources such as McDermitt’s convert slowly.

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Measured and indicated lithium resources by country

Million tons of contained lithium, selected countries

That gap between resource and reserve is the key point for an investor or claim owner: nothing in Oregon is a reserve yet.

Lithium price swings and what a resource is worth

Lithium prices have moved sharply. The USGS series for battery-grade carbonate shows an annual average of US$63,700 a tonne in 2022, falling to US$9,000 in 2025 (estimate). A project’s value swings with that price, which is why developers fund studies at a range of prices and why a 21.5 million tonne LCE resource is not worth 21.5 million times today’s price: only part is recoverable, and processing, mining and capital costs come first.

Chart

Battery-grade lithium carbonate, annual average price

US dollars per metric ton, USGS series; 2025 is an estimate

The calculator below turns a tonnage, a grade, a recovery rate and a price you enter into contained and recoverable LCE and a gross value. It uses the standard factor of 5.323 tonnes of LCE per tonne of lithium. The result is gross revenue before any cost, so it is an upper bound, not a project value.

How satellite screening fits claystone lithium

Claystone lithium is hard to spot by eye, but the clays that carry it alter how rock reflects shortwave infrared light. Geologists use satellite sensors to map clay and alteration zones before choosing where to drill, then confirm with sampling. The result is a ranked list of exploration targets, not a resource estimate. For licence owners deciding where to spend a drilling budget, that screening can narrow the ground first. Farmonaut’s satellite mineral detection service works from a project boundary you supply; see the satellite mineral detection page for what a report covers, or contact us with a boundary.

▶ Remote sensing for mining in three minutes: the instrument families and why agreement between them matters. · 2:01

What to watch next

• Phase 1 drill results from McDermitt, expected in the first quarter of 2027, which would test whether the indicated and inferred tonnes hold up.
• The McDermitt feasibility study, which turns drilling data into costs, reserves and a mine plan.
• Thacker Pass commissioning in late 2027, the first test of this clay type at scale in the United States.
• DOGAMI’s new permitting system, due in early 2027, which will set how fast new Oregon exploration permits are processed.

For other US metals and their output, see US copper mining companies ranked by output.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a lithium mine in Oregon?

No. Lithium in Oregon is at the exploration stage. The USGS reports that US commercial lithium production in its 2026 summary came from a Nevada brine operation.

Where is the McDermitt Caldera?

It straddles southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada. The crater is about 45 km long and 35 km wide, and the Oregon lithium project sits in southern Malheur County, about 20 miles west of McDermitt, Nevada.

Who owns the Oregon lithium project?

Jindalee Lithium Ltd (ASX: JLL), an Australian company, owns the McDermitt project 100% through its US subsidiary HiTech Minerals Inc., which holds the permits. In a proposed deal announced with Constellation Acquisition Corp I, HiTech Minerals would move under a new Nasdaq-listed company, US Elemental, with Jindalee keeping at least 80%; the deal had not closed at 5 October 2026.

How much lithium is in Oregon?

Jindalee’s 2023 resource estimate is 3,000 million tonnes at 1,340 ppm lithium, about 21.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent. A resource is not a reserve, and no Oregon deposit has a reserve yet.

Is Thacker Pass in Oregon?

No. Thacker Pass is in Humboldt County, Nevada, on the southern part of the same caldera. It is being built by Lithium Americas and General Motors.

When could Oregon lithium be mined?

Not before a feasibility study, a full environmental review and state operating permits. Phase 1 drilling started in October 2026 and first results are expected in the first quarter of 2027, and the BLM exploration approval runs for up to five years.

What permits does lithium exploration need in Oregon?

On BLM land, a federally approved plan of operations. Under ORS 517.705, a DOGAMI exploration permit is needed for more than one surface acre of disturbance or drilling deeper than 50 feet, with reclamation security.

Can I apply for an Oregon exploration permit right now?

DOGAMI announced a pause on new permit applications from 26 October 2026 until its new electronic system launches in early 2027. You can prepare materials in advance.

What are the environmental concerns?

Groups cited by OPB point to sage grouse habitat, Lahontan cutthroat trout and grazing land. Water use, acid and clay waste become the main questions if a mine is proposed.

How is lithium taken from clay?

The clay is dug from an open pit and leached with acid to dissolve the lithium, which is then purified into lithium carbonate. Proponents argue this uses less energy than hard-rock processing; Popular Science notes that this is what mining supporters claim.