Australian mining company Ioneer has inked a deal with Swedish-Swiss automation company ABB for engineering, project management and equipment.

ABB will provide its MineOptimize product to Ioneer and its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada.

These services include process automation, power generation, and electrical distribution.

The ABB team will work on systems engineering and optimising equipment packages, which will include a steam turbine generator, as well as medium- and low-voltage electrical distribution. ABB will also work on power management, in addition to process automation across the plant.

Included in the contract are also instrumentation systems to be used in generation, acid and lithium processing plants.

Ioneer selected ABB because of its environmental-focused engineering and technology approaches.

"This aligns with Ioneer's ambition to not only produce materials necessary to develop electric vehicle and renewable energy supply chain infrastructure in North America, but to do so in an efficient and environmentally responsible manner through lowered emissions, significantly reduced water usage, and a small surface footprint," Ioneer chief executive Bernard Rowe said.

The contract has been awarded on a limited-notice-to-proceed basis. The equipment packages depend on whether Ioneer makes a final investment decision on the mine.

Ioneer's plans for Rhyolite Ridge hit a stumbling-block last week, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicated it may designate a critical habitat area for an endangered plant. This area would be on land included in the Rhyolite Ridge project.

The US government body is expected to make a final decision on the wildlife protection area in September.

Rhyolite Ridge is estimated to contain 146.6 million tonnes of lithium and boron.