US-based Piedmont Lithium said it received a mining permit for its Carolina Lithium hydroxide project in North Carolina.
Piedmont president and CEO Keith Phillips said: “We plan to develop Carolina Lithium as one of the lowest-cost, most sustainable lithium hydroxide operations in the world, and as a critical part of the American electric vehicle supply chain.”
It is being designed to produce 30,000 tons per year of lithium hydroxide. Construction will start once all permits and project financing is in place.
He expects the project, described as “highly strategic”, to contribute billions of dollars of economic output and several hundred jobs to Gaston County and North Carolina’s growing electrification economy.
The company said the site is located within the renowned Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt and the US Battery Belt. It is being designed as a fully integrated mining, spodumene concentrate, and lithium hydroxide manufacturing operation. Piedmont claimed there are no other such integrated sites in the world.
Phillips added: “Technical studies have demonstrated that Carolina Lithium could be a low-cost producer of spodumene concentrate and lithium hydroxide, benefitting from exceptional infrastructure, minimal transportation distances, low energy costs, a deep local talent pool, and proximity to cathode and battery customers as well as local markets for the monetization of by-product industrial minerals.”
Last month, the International Lithium Association released its first report on determining the product carbon footprint (PCF) of lithium products. It was, it said, the first global effort to create standard lithium PCF guidance.
It covers a range of steps, including mining and processing. It harmonises the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions for battery grades of lithium carbonate and battery grades of lithium hydroxide monohydrate. “It helps ensure that data from lithium producers are coherent and based on the same calculations, methods and parameters,” it said.
