April 15 (Reuters) – North Carolina regulators have approved a state mining permit for Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab supplier Piedmont Lithium to develop one of the largest U.S. 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 U.S, illustrates broadening tension in the country, as resistance to living near a mine clashes with the potential of EVs to mitigate climate change.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/business/piedmont-lithium-gets-mining-permit-north-carolina-project-2024-04-15/