Century Lithium Gets Nevada Water Permit
Water Pollution Control Permit issued for Century Lithium’s Tonopah demonstration plant in Nevada, covering construction, operation and closure.
Century Lithium has received Water Pollution Control Permit NEV2026117 for its Tonopah Airport Lithium Processing Demonstration Facility in Nye County, Nevada. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection permit authorizes construction, operation and closure of the facility supporting the company’s 100%-owned Angel Island Lithium Project. The permit covers a process building and two existing double-lined tailings ponds with leak detection. Construction of the process building remains subject to Federal Aviation Administration approval.
Permit Requirements
Before operations can begin, the two tailings ponds must be certified through hydrostatic testing of their liner and leak detection systems. That work is underway. Century Lithium must also submit updated operating plans and a notice of intent to operate, and complete an NDEP facility inspection.
The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Cypress Holdings (Nevada), Ltd, also holds a Class II General Air Quality Operating Permit for the Tonopah Airport site. The company leases the industrial site from Nye County, where its Nevada office is located.
Plant Construction Plans
Century Lithium has purchased a steel building with engineered modifications for the plant layout. The concrete foundation slab is complete and sealed with a chemical-resistant coating. The FAA’s environmental review is nearing completion, and the company is awaiting approval to construct the process building.
Bill Willoughby, President and CEO at Century Lithium, said:
“Receiving the Water Pollution Control Permit is a key step in our efforts to reconstruct and upgrade the Demonstration Plant in Tonopah. The Plant has already demonstrated continuous operation of our patent-pending process, a combination of hydrochloric acid leaching and direct lithium extraction to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate from bulk samples of lithium clay from Angel Island. Our plan going forward with the Demonstration Plant is to complete the test work outlined in the 2026 Feasibility Study, continue to physically show the efficiency of our process, and pursue R&D initiatives, including recovery of other critical minerals from Angel Island, when funded.”
Testing At Larger Scale
When operational, the plant will complete metallurgical testing recommended in the 2026 Feasibility Study, including full test runs on claystone zones 1 and 2. The work will evaluate improvements to leaching, direct lithium extraction, lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide production.
Test work from a 500-tonne bulk sample of Angel Island claystone reported in the company’s December 2 and December 11, 2025 news releases demonstrated recovery of rare earth elements without adversely affecting lithium recovery. The bulk sample assayed 0.024% total rare earth oxides, comprising 75% light REEs and 25% yttrium and heavy REEs. These results are representative of the bulk sample only and should not be assumed to represent the Angel Island deposit as a whole.
Angel Island Development
The Demonstration Plant will test rare earth element recovery from Angel Island claystone at a larger scale. Metallurgical testing continues at Century Lithium’s Butte, Montana laboratory, where research into an enhanced chlor-alkali-based process is examining alternatives to atmospheric leaching that could reduce the Project’s overall power requirements.
