Located approximately 35 miles west of Charlotte, NC, redevelopment of the Kings Mountain Mine is expected to provide a valuable domestic source of lithium. Albemarle has started the permitting process to resume open pit mining and expand the mine footprint, which was idled in the early 1990s. Here’s five things to know about the project:
Location is everything.
Location is everything.
The lithium resource the mine is seeking to develop is considered world class and contained within a relatively small sliver of land known as the Carolina Tin Spodumene Belt. Located along the boundary of South and North Carolina and extending northeastward, the belt is only 37 miles long and less than 1.5 miles wide.
The project is designed to use land as responsibly as possible.
The project is designed to use land as responsibly as possible.
The proposed mine’s footprint is anticipated to encompass approximately 1,200 acres that was either already owned by Albemarle or adjacent properties that were recently acquired. This includes the previously mined Kings Mountain site and a nearby mica mine designed to store the mine’s tailings materials. Only 40% of the project is considered greenfield property.
Mining is held to high regulatory standards.
Mining is held to high regulatory standards.
The project is anticipated to require approximately 30 different permits and approvals from the City of Kings Mountain, several departments within the State of North Carolina, and the federal government. The permitting approval process is estimated to take approximately two years to receive final approval.
Lithium is critical to the U.S.’s energy transition.
Lithium is critical to the U.S.’s energy transition.
The lithium-bearing material produced by the mine is expected to not only support many of the products we use every day like smartphones and pacemakers, but also serve as a crucial building block of advanced battery technology for clean energy and sustainable transportation. The mine’s expected production alone has the potential to support the manufacture of 1.2 million electric vehicles yearly. In fact, the project was awarded $240 million from the departments of Energy and Defense to support domestic manufacturing and reduce the U.S.’s reliance on a foreign supply of lithium.
The project is focused on maximizing benefits to the community.
The project is focused on maximizing benefits to the community.
The mine is anticipated to generate approximately 1,000 jobs during construction and more than 340 full-time, highly skilled jobs once the mine is operational. Albemarle has been focused on building a local and regional pipeline of workers through educational partners like Cleveland Community College and working diligently with the county school system to create additional science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational opportunities.
