Last September, in the arid hills of northern Nevada, a cluster of flowers found nowhere else on earth died mysteriously overnight.
Conservationists were quick to suspect Ioneer Ltd., an Australian firm that wants to mine the lithium that lies beneath the flowers for use in electric vehicle batteries.
One conservation group alleged in a lawsuit that the flowers, known as Tiehm's buckwheat, were "dug up and destroyed." The rare plant posed a problem for Ioneer because U.S. officials may soon add it to the Endangered Species List, which could scuttle the mining project.