RENO, Nev.: A judge has cleared the way for two tribes to join a legal battle over plans to build a mine in Nevada at the largest known U.S. deposit of lithium and seek a temporary ban on digging for an archaeological survey that they say would desecrate sacred tribal lands near the Oregon line.
U.S. District Judge Miranda Du on Wednesday allowed the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Atsa Koodakuh Wyh Nuwu/People of Red Mountain to intervene in a lawsuit against Lithium Nevada Corp.
The tribes say their ancestors were massacred in the late 1800s at the proposed Thacker Pass mine site.
They say the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements approval of the project in December during the final weeks of the Trump administration violates the National Historic Preservation Act because they havent been consulted about potential efforts to mitigate damage to their sacred lands.
If the land agency and Lithium Nevada prevail, a massive open pit mine will be constructed on a massacre site, historic properties…