Ioneer Ltd. said Feb. 10 that it awarded ABB Inc. a major engineering and equipment supply contract for the development of its proposed Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada.

Ioneer awarded the contract on a limited notice to proceed basis, with the supply of equipment packages conditional on a final investment decision by ioneer's board on the project, expected in 2023.

Under the contract, ABB will start work on systems engineering and optimization for the equipment packages. The packages include a steam turbine generator, medium- and low-voltage electrical distribution, power management and plant-wide process automation and instrumentation systems for the generation, acid and lithium processing plants.

Earlier, ioneer said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plan to protect 910 acres of land near the Rhyolite Ridge project for the conservation of Tiehm's buckwheat will have no material impact on planned activities at the site.