Atop a long-dormant volcano in northern Nevada, workers are preparing to start blasting and digging out a giant pit that will serve as the first new large-scale lithium mine in the United States in more than a decade — a new domestic supply of an essential ingredient in electric car batteries and renewable energy.The mine, constructed on leased federal lands, could help address the near total reliance by the United States on foreign sources of lithium.But the project, known as Lithium Americas, has drawn protests from members of a Native American tribe, ranchers and environmental groups because it is …