Utah has reduced royalty rates for two foreign companies who want to mine lithium and uranium from the state’s water and land.

The Board of Trustees for the Utah Trust Lands Administration unanimously moved to lessen what A1 Lithium, an Australian company, and IsoEnergy Ltd., a Canadian company, would have to pay to the state for mining on trust lands when the board met May 15. The administration leases and sells lands to generate money for Utah public schools.

“We need to be competitive to encourage exploration and production on trust lands, and a lower royalty rate on a project that actually goes into production is better than a higher royalty rate on a project that is not economic and won’t be developed,” said Stephanie Barber-Renteria, managing director of energy and minerals for the Trust Lands Administration.

Barber-Renteria added that the state agency’s staff “found that our current production royalty rates are significantly higher than those in other states. The board agreed that reducing the royalty rates would encourage exploration and development in Utah and accelerate the payment of royalties to our beneficiaries.”

A1 Lithium, a subsidiary of Australian mining company Anson Resources, is working to extract lithium from the Green River in Emery County. The state reduced the company’s royalty rate on 6,500 acres from 5% on the lithium they sell to a sliding scale that ranges from 1% and 5% based on the market price of lithium.

Anson Resources told Mining.com.au that Utah’s is the first scaled royalty structure for lithium in the U.S. Last year, A1 Lithium donated $10,000 to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s reelection campaign.

Read more at SLTrib.com.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.