PIEDMONT LITHIUM DIGGING ITS WAY INTO GROWING BATTERY INDUSTRY.

• Author: Blake, Kathy
• Position: COMMUNITY CLOSE-UP: GASTON COUNTY

It's not gold that lies about 325-feet deep along a 24-mile stretch that runs from the Cleveland-Gaston County line to Lincoln County. But the tin-spodumene found there is almost as valuable. It contains the country's highest concentration of lithium, which when turned into lithium hydroxide becomes a vital component of the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles, smartphones and other devices.

Belmont-based Piedmont Lithium completed a bank feasibility study in December for its Carolina Lithium Project in Gaston County, which it says could be one of the world's largest and lowest-cost producers of lithium hydroxide once a state mining permit and county rezoning are obtained. The company aims to produce about 160,000 tons of spodumene concentrate annually, which will create about 22,700 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Rock Tech Lithium, for example, recently opened a plant in Europe that can produce about 26,500 tons of lithium hydroxide each year, enough for about 500,000 EVs.

Cashing in on the North Carolina deposit isn't a simple process. "After spodumene is quarried, it goes through a concentration process that removes other minerals, such as quartz and feldspar, which, in some cases, are sold for other applications," says Piedmont Lithium President and CEO Keith Phillips. "The spodumene is then processed with other natural products, like soda ash and lime, to produce the finished product: battery-grade lithium hydroxide. The demand for lithium is expected to more than double from 2021 levels by 2025 and continue to grow by nearly...