Silver Peak lies near a dry lake bed that is rich in lithium and other minerals. Initially, salt was mined in the area. In 1906, Spurr reported that salt was mined for local use by digging a hole a foot or two deep until water was reached and then waiting until the water evaporated. It was claimed that the salt produced in this manner was 99% pure. During World War II, Clayton Marsh was explored for strategic minerals including potash and American Potash Corp. leased the marsh. In the 1950s, Leprechaun Mining picked up the leases and determined that in addition to potassium, lithium was present. Leprechaun Mining reached an agreement with Foote Minerals in 1964 and Foote reconfigured the silver mill and started production of lithium in 1967. In 1988, Cyprus Minerals acquired Foote and became Cyprus Foot Minerals. In 1998, Chemetall acquired the operation - the new company was called Chemetall Foote Corp. In 2004, Rockwood Holdings acquired the operation. In 2010, the mine was expanded to double the capacity of its lithium carbonate production. The project was funded in part by a $28.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand and upgrade the production of lithium materials for advanced transportation batteries., In 2014, the Albemarle Corporation purchased Rockwood for $6.2 Billion. As of February 2019, the Albemarle Corporation Lithium Operation at Silver Peak is currently the only operating source of lithium in the United States. The community gained some fame during California's 1999 electric power crisis. In the first major act of the power crisis causing an outage, on March 25, 1999, Enron energy traders allegedly rerouted 2,900MW of electricity destined for California to this small Nevada community. This caused a large shortage on the California power grid because the largest power feeder from this area to California had a capacity of 15MW. News accounts claim this single action created an estimated $7 million of revenue for Enron. The company was fined $25,000 for their action, suggesting to some that this was a viable way for the firm to make money.
History
Silver Peak is one of the oldest mining communities in Nevada. It was founded near a well in 1864, two years after the founding of surrounding Esmeralda County, and one year after silver was discovered nearby and mining began. A 10stamp mill was built in 1865, and a 20 stamp mill by 1867. The Silver Peak Railroad was built by the Pittsburgh Silver Peak Gold Mining Company after it bought a group of mining properties in 1906 and established a 100 stamp mill at Blair, Nevada, in 1907. Blair's mill closed in 1915, and Blair was a ghost town by 1920. Silver Peak maintained a population, however, even though it burned in 1948. In 1939, boxer Max Baer defeated "Big Ed" Murphy of Silver Peak in a one round in a fight at Silver Peak.
