A10
OREGON
East Oregonian
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Test drilling OK’d for proposed lithium mine
By JORDAN RANE
Columbia Insight
McDERMITT, Nevada — A
lithium-mining boom could be in
the works in Southeastern Oregon.
That’s according to an Australian
mineral exploration company target-
ing a site in Malheur County for the
coveted battery metal that fuels cell-
phones, laptops and electric vehicles.
Perth-based Jindalee Resources
Ltd. announced this month it will
test drill for lithium deposits on the
edge of a volcanic caldera near the
community of McDermitt (popula-
tion 126 or so), which occupies both
sides of the Oregon-Nevada border.
The area is known to be naturally
rich in sediments of the soft, silver-
white element.
Lithium — the world’s lightest
pure metal, No. 3 on the periodic
table — is famous for being able to
fl oat on water and stabilize human
moods. But even more so these
days as a vital global commodity
for powering electronic devices,
renewable energy storage and recent
federal mandates to increase domes-
tic production of it and reduce foreign
dependence.
Approval for Jindalee’s McDer-
mitt Lithium Project test drilling
— 39 planned holes in all — was
granted by the Oregon Department
of Geology and Mineral Industries.
According to an Oregon Public
Broadcasting report, this is the fi rst
known application received by the
Mineral Land Regulation and Recla-
mation offi ce to explore for lithium
in the state.
Just how much lithium could be
hiding beneath this largely unpopu-
lated part of the country?
Over 10 million tons, notes a
Jindalee press release after a prelimi-
nary scoping study. This would make
it one of the largest lithium deposits
in the United States, according the
company.
“An absolute monster,” is how
Jindalee executive director Lind-
say Dudfi eld described the area (as it
pertains to untapped lithium) on the
fi nancial media network Proactive.
Global market surging
Currently, a single lithium mine
operates in the United States (in
Nevada). It produces just over 1% of
the world’s lithium supply, according
to Forbes.
Australia, the world’s top lith-
ium supplier, produces nearly 53%,
followed (distantly) by Chile, China
(by far the world’s top lithium
consumer) and Argentina.
But this needle could shift over
the next fi ve years with global lith-
ium production expected to almost
triple due especially to a surging
electric-vehicle market.
League of Oregon Cities boss
resigns after profane messages
Beaverton Mayor Lacey
Beaty calls out Mike Cully
for ‘tone-deaf comment
about service workers’
By KELCIE GREGA
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The executive director
of the League of Oregon Cities resigned
Monday night, Dec. 20,
after he sent private
messages on Twitter
to Beaverton Mayor
Lacey Beaty calling her
“weak” and saying she
has “no soul.”
T he excha nge
Culley
between Beaty and
Mike Cully began
Dec. 17 after Cully
an nounced on his
now-deleted Twitter
account that he doesn’t
tip fast food workers.
“That’s what your
Beaty
paycheck is for,” Cully
added. “Dissatisfi ed? Get an education
and a better job.”
Beaty took a screenshot of Cully’s
tweet, which he subsequently deleted,
likening his sentiment to the famous
phrase often, perhaps apocryphally,
attributed to Marie Antoinette.
“If you don’t want to tip during a
global pandemic,” Beaty concluded,
“you should make your food at home.”
Cully then sent Beaty of slew of
profane private messages over a span
of at least two hours, according to a
complaint Beaty fi led with the League
of Oregon Cities the night of Dec. 18.
That complaint was fi rst reported on by
The Oregonian.
A screenshot of Cully’s messages
also was shared with Pamplin Media
Group.
• 6:36 p.m.: “Hey Lacey — instead
of putting me on (expletive) BLAST
you bully. Talk to me.” “You have NO
SOUL.”
• 6:58 p.m.: “Talk to ME. A white
male who has NO agenda with YOU”
• 7:31 p.m.: “I (expletive) HATE weak
people Lacey.”
• 9 p.m.: “You are WEAK”
In her complaint, Beaty expressed
her dismay over how Cully conducted
himself not only toward her, but toward
service workers.
“I was alarmed that the leader of
Oregon cities, which are desperately
working on economic recovery during
a global pandemic, would post such a
tone-deaf comment about service work-
ers. Our cities are our people. When Mr.
Cully shared his tweet and his disdain
for workers, he was insulting our
community members across the state,”
she wrote.
She continued: “Further, I am
concerned that a state leader regu-
larly called upon to address economic
recovery in Oregon, is promoting a
false narrative that the only diff erence
between those who work in fast food and
those with good paying jobs is educa-
tion. As we all know, there are myriad
reasons why economic disparity exists.
All of us who care about our state, are
working to dismantle these classist and
elitist falsehoods.”
In a tweet on Dec. 19 from his
since-deleted account, Cully apologized
for his remarks, a day after Beaty fi led
her complaint.
“I am not above recognizing and
acknowledging when I am wrong. Nor
do I feel exempt from issuing an apology
for posting insensitive and disrespectful
remarks. I own that I did this to” Beaty,
he wrote, tagging another account with a
name similar to the Beaverton mayor, as
fi rst reported in The Oregonian’s article.
The League of Oregon Cities’ board
of directors unanimously voted Dec. 20
to accept Cully’s resignation.
The board also named the league’s
general counsel, Patty Mulvihill, as
acting executive director. Mulvihill
joined the LOC in 2016 as assistant
general counsel and was promoted to
general counsel in 2017.
Cully will be placed on paid admin-
istrative leave until March 20.
U.S. production is expected to
grow following an executive order
issued by the Biden administra-
tion for an in-depth analysis geared
toward strengthening the domestic
lithium supply — including mining
raw materials for lithium-battery
production.
“With the global lithium-battery
market expected to grow by a factor
of fi ve to 10 by 2030, it is impera-
tive that the United States invests
immediately in scaling up a secure,
diversifi ed supply chain for high-ca-
pacity batteries here at home,” stated
a Department of Energy report in
February, following Biden’s “100-
Day Battery Supply Chain Review.”
Brown extends state of emergency
declaration due to omicron variant
The Oregonian
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown on Tuesday, Dec. 21,
extended Oregon’s declara-
tion of a state of emergency
until June 2022, citing the
emergence of the omicron
variant to the coronavirus.
“As Oregon prepares for
what could be our worst
surge in hospitalizations
during this pandemic, I
know that this is not the
beginning of the new year
any of us had hoped for,”
Brown said. “Time and
again over the last two
years, Oregonians have
proven that we will stand
with each other in our most
diffi cult times. Your actions
have saved lives, and it is
because we have worked
together to keep each other
safe that Oregon still has
some of the lowest infection
and mortality rates in the
nation. Please, do your part
again — get vaccinated, get
your booster shot, and wear
a mask.”
Extending the state of
emergency declaration
maintains Oregon’s abil-
ity to access federal relief
funds, such as enhanced
SNAP benefits, Brown’s
announcement said.
The gover nor noted
she had moved away from
managing the COVID-19
pandemic mainly through
execut ive orders a nd
mandates toward more
standard regulatory tools
as it became clear the
pandemic needed long-
term management, such as
using existing state powers
to implement masking and
vaccination rules.
Happy
Holidays
Local Investment.
Jobs. Clean Energy.