04:41 PM EST, 01/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Ioneer ( IONR ) reported Friday the closing of a $996 million loan to support the development of an on-site processing facility at the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Esmeralda County, Nevada.

The loan is from the US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, the company said.

The loan, with $968 million in principal and $28 million in capitalized interest, is a $268 million increase in loan principal from the January 2023 conditional loan commitment, Ioneer ( IONR ) added.

Construction, targeted for later this year, is expected to take about 36 months, with initial production anticipated in 2028, the company said.