Piedmont Lithium

Piedmont Lithium has picked a site in eastern Tennessee for a $600 million lithium processing plant. The Belmont-based company says it believes the plant will be the largest in the U.S. when it opens in 2025.

The federal climate and health care law enacted last week has provisions aimed at boosting the U.S. electric vehicle industry. North Carolina lithium mining companies say it will help their business of supplying electric vehicle makers.

State mining officials have given Piedmont Lithium another six months to complete studies required for approval of a permit for the company's proposed lithium mine in northern Gaston County.

Piedmont Lithium will begin mining next year, but not at its controversial proposed mine in northern Gaston County. Instead the company has lined up mines outside the country.

A company seeking a state permit for a lithium mine in northern Gaston County has until mid-July to answer state regulators' questions about the project's potential environmental effects.

Piedmont Lithium says its proposed mine and processing operation in northern Gaston County will create more than 1,000 jobs and generate $3.9 billion in economic activity in its first six years. But those predictions got a cool reception Tuesday from county commissioners and residents.

Most speakers at a public hearing in Gastonia on Monday night urged state environmental regulators to deny a permit for a lithium mine on about 1,500 acres in northern Gaston County. Their main concerns: air and water pollution and losing their quality of life.

North Carolina environmental officials have scheduled two public hearings this week — one in person and one virtual — on Piedmont Lithium's application for a lithium mining permit in Gaston County.

Gaston County commissioners on Tuesday night unanimously approved updates to the county development ordinance that allow new mining operations and spell out how they are regulated. The rules affect Piedmont Lithium, which wants to build an $840 million lithium mining and processing facility in northern Gaston County.

Public comments are due Thursday on Piedmont Lithium's application for a state permit to build a lithium mine and processing operation in northern Gaston County. The application details the company's mining plans.