Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLL) (NASDAQ:PLL) has submitted two key permit applications to US authorities for the Piedmont Lithium Project in the Carolina Tin Spodumene Belt in North Carolina, USA.
A Section 404 Standard Individual Permit application has been submitted to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the lead agency that will review the permit applications at the federal level.
An application for a Section 401 Individual Water Quality Certification has been concurrently submitted to the North Carolina Division of Water Resources (NCDWR).
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These permits are typical requirements for the type of operation proposed by Piedmont Lithium.
Piedmont’s president and CEO Keith D Phillips said this was another step towards realising the company’s goal of producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide in North Carolina.
The applications were completed and submitted in accordance with the company’s estimated permitting timeline, allowing Piedmont to maintain its overall project development schedule.
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HDR Engineering’s Charlotte Office acted as lead consultant in the preparation of both applications.
Phillips said: “An immense amount of preparatory work was completed by our team and our consulting advisors, and we look forward to a continued constructive engagement with the appropriate regulatory bodies.”
Piedmont expects to submit the remaining permit applications required to begin mining operations to various state and local agencies within the first half of this year.
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The company holds a 100% interest in the Piedmont project within the world-class Carolina TSB and along trend to the Hallman Beam and Kings Mountain mines.
This region and these mines historically provided most of the western world’s lithium between the 1950s and the 1980s.
The TSB has been described as one of the largest lithium provinces in the world and is about 25 miles west of Charlotte, North Carolina.
