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Good morning, Northwest.

Two mining projects in far Eastern Oregon’s Malheur County gained traction yesterday, both with implications for sage grouse populations.

This morning, OPB’s Cassandra Profita reports on the Australian-owned company that will soon start exploratory drilling in a search for lithium near the Nevada border, which could lead to mining in the years to come.

And 140 miles northeast, a company that plans to mine gold from nearly 500 acres of desert hills just got one step closer to obtaining state permits, as OPB’s April Ehrlich explains.

Here’s your First Look at Tuesday’s news.

— Sukhjot Sal

Lithium mining exploration project in Southeast Oregon gets federal approval

The Bureau of Land Management yesterday announced its approval of a controversial lithium mining exploration project in Southeast Oregon’s Malheur County near the Nevada state line.

The decision allows a subsidiary of Australia-based Jindalee Resources to do exploratory drilling for lithium at up to 168 sites across 7,200 acres of BLM land.

Wildlife advocates say the project will disturb prime sage grouse habitat, and could impact threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and critical grazing land for local ranchers. (Cassandra Profita)

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Eastern Oregon gold mine one step closer toward state approval

A Nevada-based company is one step closer to being allowed to construct Oregon’s first modern-day gold mine.

Yesterday, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries announced it has finished compiling multiple state permits that, if finalized, will allow Paramount Gold to move forward.

Since 2017, Paramount Gold has been planning to use cyanide to extract gold and silver out of thousands of acres of Eastern Oregon’s rolling desert hills, about 22 miles south of Vale in Malheur County. (April Ehrlich)

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3 things to know this morning

• Just over a hundred people chanted and held signs outside Vancouver city hall yesterday to condemn the detainment of Jose Paniagua Calderon by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Dec. 4. According to his family, the officers fractured Paniagua Calderon’s foot by driving over it during the arrest. (Erik Neumann)
• A federal judge in Eugene extended a temporary court order yesterday requiring the U.S. Coast Guard to maintain a search and rescue helicopter in Newport for at least the next two weeks. The judge said the helicopter’s removal “ran afoul” of a federal statute. (Conrad Wilson)
• A flood watch is in effect until Friday morning along waterways and in other low-lying and flood-prone locations in the Cowlitz, Columbia River and Willamette valleys. The National Weather Service predicts that a so-called atmospheric river will dump several inches of rain this week. (OPB staff)

Headlines from around the Northwest

• Hundreds of Washington County students stage walkout over ICE activity (Holly Bartholomew)
• Northeast Oregon regains daily bus service to Portland and Boise after an 11-month gap (Lillian Karabaic)
• IW: Most children charged as adults in Washington are youth of color (Melanie Henshaw)
• National Guard shooting leaves fear and sorrow in Bellingham, Washington (Brian Mann)
• Off-duty Portland officer accused of strangulation, domestic violence (Troy Brynelson)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• Why a Washington program for Indigenous homeownership hasn’t worked
• Somali community in Portland area on edge after President Trump’s attacks on Somali immigrants in US
• Portland Alzheimer’s activist uses personal story to help others
• OHSU sleep researchers get $4 million grant to see if bright light therapy improves outcomes for people with traumatic brain injuries

Javelina recently made a national list of best new restaurants. Portlanders have known about it since its pop-up days

Last week, Esquire Magazine named 33 restaurants across the country as the best that opened this year — and one Portland spot made the list.

The magazine recognized Javelina, an Indigenous foods restaurant, for its “menu [that] educates and enthralls in equal measure.”

OPB profiled Javelina and head chef Alexa Numkena-Anderson, an enrolled Hopi Yakama, Cree & Skokomish descendant, in 2024 when she operated a pop-up restaurant. We revisit that story following the new national attention. (Nika Bartoo-Smith)

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/09/first-look-eastern-oregon-lithium-gold-mines/