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North Carolina regulators have approved a state mining permit for Tesla supplier Piedmont Lithium to develop one of the largest US sources of the key electric vehicle battery metal, although key financing and local regulatory challenges remain.
The approval from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, which was announced by the company on Monday and is conditional on the posting of a $1 million reclamation bond, removes a major hurdle to Piedmont's plans to tap a large lithium deposit just outside Charlotte.
Shares in the company, which first applied for the permit in August 2021, rose 33% in morning trading. The state has never turned down a mining permit application. The go-ahead for the 500-foot-deep mine comes despite widespread opposition from neighbors worried about water, noise pollution and other potential problems.
The years-long opposition to the project, which would become one of the few lithium-producing sites in the US, illustrates broadening tension in the country, as resistance to living near a mine clashes with the potential of EVs to mitigate climate change.
Piedmont must still obtain a local zoning variance and financing for the project, estimated to cost more than $1 billion. The company has applied for US Department of Energy loans via a program through which rivals ioneer and Lithium Americas have already obtained financing.
"We plan to develop Carolina Lithium as one of the lowest-cost, most sustainable lithium hydroxide operations in the world," said Piedmont CEO Keith Phillips. Piedmont agreed to a deal with Tesla last year to supply spodumene concentrate, a key raw material for making batteries, to the auto giant through 2025, with an option to renew it for another three years.
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