Nevada-based Comstock Mining has acquired the Haywood quarry and industrial property to use for lithium-ion battery storage.

Comstock paid a total of US$2.1 million in cash and stock. The property contains 190 industrial acres in Nevada, and is part of one of the largest industrial parks in the state.

The property will support the battery metal recycling activities of Comstock subsidiary LiNiCo Corp. The Haywood property will receive, sort, and store metals lithium-ion batteries.

The location also has easy access to the US 50 highway, and provides a direct link to the subsidiary's metal crushing and processing facility in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Centre.

The property "requires minimal site preparation and permitting to become a critical link in the system necessary for LiNiCo to operate at maximum throughput," chief executive Corrado De Gasperis said.

The pilot crushing and separating system will begin operations later in 2022. Comstock plans to extract lithium immediately after crushing and conditioning are completed.

LiNiCo also plans to produce ‘black mass,' which includes critical minerals lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite. Lithium will be extracted first in the process.

Interest and investment in mining critical minerals have increased substantially in recent years, and increasing critical minerals production is supported by the Biden administration. Producing enough critical minerals to be self-reliant is a way to wean the U.S. off its dependency of other countries, particularly China, the administration has stated.