A Tiehm’s buckwheat plant starts to bud in its native habitat among searlesite and other mineral rocks on public land in the Silver Peak Range in Esmeralda County, Nevada beside Rhyolite Ridge, the site of a proposed lithium mine, on May 7, 2024. Australian mining company Ioneer is in the final phase of securing approval to break ground on a lithium mine at Rhyolite Ridge – if the requirements to safeguard the rare and endemic wildflower, which is protected by the US Endangered Species Act, doesn’t squelch the project. Rhyolite Ridge has North America’s largest known deposit of searlesite, from which lithium and boron is extracted, and could help secure America’s lithium independence. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)