Kings Mountain, a world-class facility, a world-class resource
Demand for lithium-ion batteries is growing at an exciting rate, driven in large part by increasing global demand for electric vehicles, mobile devices, and grid storage. We see these as essential markets intended to improve our quality of life by reducing air pollution, promoting electronic mobility, enabling portable medical devices, and advancing renewable energy. And at the heart of it, all is lithium.
Albemarle is one of the largest lithium companies in the world; it is also currently the only U.S.-based lithium company with multiple U.S. sites for lithium extraction, processing, and novel materials R&D to enable the next frontier of lithium-ion battery performance.
The map provides updates on what’s happening in various locations at the Kings Mountain proposed mine site. You can access details about the current activities by clicking on highlighted areas of the map. This map will be updated weekly, however activities may change from day to day.
Lithium is an element found naturally occurring in Earth’s crust. Unlike gold and copper, lithium is not found as a standalone element (otherwise known as a Native Element); instead is found as part of compounds that make up minerals that makeup rocks. When there is a significant amount of lithium-bearing rocks in a single area, we consider/call that a lithium deposit. Through mining and processing of the minerals and rocks that contain lithium, we can create a variety of non-naturally occurring lithium compounds such as lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride.
A drilling process known as diamond borehole core drilling (known as DD) is used to collect primary data from the deposit. These DD boreholes are initially spread throughout the footprint of the deposit, and as confidence in the deposit increases, the DD boreholes are drilled closer and closer together. DD provides a variety of data, including, but not limited to, lithology/rock identification, mineral identification, assays/geochemical results, and geotechnical information. With this data, a resource model will be created. Resource models determine the quality and quantity of the resource.
The deposit found in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, is part of the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt within the Inner Piedmont terrane, to the west and along the Kings Mountain. This area is well known for its lithium resources. In fact, Kings Mountain is believed to be among one of the largest resources in the world.
Hard rock lithium deposits, like those at Kings Mountain, are typically found in pegmatites, which are igneous rocks with very large crystals of granitic composition. Not all pegmatites have lithium, but those that do contain the minerals spodumene, lepidolite, and petalite. Spodumene is the most abundant lithium mineral at Kings Mountain. Hard rock pegmatite deposits often have higher concentrations of lithium than salt flats or brine pools, which can make them more cost-effective to mine.
We
currently are assessing the existing site, looking at the geology and
other features to gather information needed to determine the extent of
the resources and collect the huge volume of data needed for economic
and environmental assessments and permitting. The environmental work
alone covers more than two dozen data collections and studies. These
assessments are expected to take three to four years.
If the decision is made to proceed, the existing pit would be
expanded with new extraction activities. This is referred to as a
brownfield development (restarting a previously disturbed site).
Generally speaking, an economically viable mine could have an operating life of potentially 20-30 years.
A mine closure and reclamation plan will be developed as part of the
prefeasibility study. This plan will be developed using input from the
Kings Mountain community to identify options to repurpose the site after
extraction operations are completed. The plan would be regularly
updated and refined throughout mining operations.
Dewatering the Kings Mountain Mine Pit
The Kings Mountain mine is an open pit site. When the mining activity stopped nearly 40 years ago, the mine pit began accumulating rainwater. As Albemarle explores re-mining the site, we must first conduct prefeasibility studies and this requires dewatering the pit for drilling and other exploratory work. Once the studies are completed, and evaluated, and permitting is secured for the proposed mine, dry conditions are needed for the implementation of safe and environmentally friendly mining methods.
Protecting the Wildlife
With concern for the pit lake inhabitants, wildlife biologists have completed studies of the aquatic species to ensure that no threatened or endangered species live in or around the pit. The only aquatic species found in the pit is the common bluegill which is not threatened or endangered. Biologists anticipate that birds and mammals will adjust and access other water bodies on and off-site.
The Dewatering Process
The dewatering process complies with the water management requirements of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which has issued Albemarle a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. This permit allows Albemarle to treat and discharge water that has accumulated in the existing mine pit site since operations ceased in the 1990s. Albemarle is using electric pumps to convey existing water from the pit to a temporary water treatment plant constructed on the Kings Mountain site. At the water treatment plant, the water is cleaned and filtered of sediment. Once treated, the water is pumped into Kings Creek at a rate compliant with DEQ permit to ensure the integrity of the creek and river basin.
A water treatment plant located on the Kings Mountain site is used to filter and clean the pit water. The treated water will be pumped to South Creek Reservoir at a controlled rate of 2,000-2,200 gallons per minute on average.
To dewater the pit safely and sustainably, we expect the process to take up to 18 months to remove 1.3 billion gallons of water. The treated water will be discharged at a higher quality than the North Carolina DEQ Class C water body standard. Water quality will be continuously monitored with in-process sensors for pH, clarity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. Regular water quality sampling for analysis will be done from our groundwater and surface water monitoring network.
Managing Odors
There may be an occasional odor as the water level drops in the pit during dewatering and decomposed materials at the bottom of the pit are exposed. The water treatment process was specifically selected for pit dewatering to mitigate odor during the process due to low dissolved oxygen at depth in the pit lake. We anticipate there will be little to no discernible smell beyond the pit during the process.
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The Kings Mountain mine is an open pit site. When the mining activity stopped nearly 40 years ago, the mine pit began accumulating rainwater. As Albemarle explores re-mining the site, we must first conduct prefeasibility studies and this requires dewatering the pit for drilling and other exploratory work. Once the studies are completed, and evaluated, and permitting is secured for the proposed mine, dry conditions are needed for the implementation of safe and environmentally friendly mining methods.
