A federal decision, 33 years after the mine closed
On March 30 2026, the Department of Energy signed a Finding of No Significant Impact, the federal environmental review that clears the last hurdle before the government can fund a project. The finding covers a proposed 394,066,046 dollars plant at the Kings Mountain Mine in North Carolina, a hard rock lithium site run by Albemarle Corporation where mining stopped in 1993. Of that total, the department proposed a grant of 149,658,312 dollars, with Albemarle Corporation paying the remaining 244,407,734 dollars. The plant would crush and process spodumene, a lithium bearing rock, into a concentrate enriched to about 6% lithium oxide, the compound refiners turn into battery grade lithium, at a rate of 420,000 metric tons a year.
The Department of Energy states all 3 figures itself, in exact dollars. They are shown here in millions, rounded to 1 decimal place, and the total is the first 2 added together.
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| Federal grant | 149.7 |
| Albemarle Corporation share | 244.4 |
| Total project cost | 394.1 |
Emily Domenech, executive director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, the federal body that coordinates permits for priority infrastructure projects, described what completing that review means for this project.
This marks the 12th mining project to complete federal permitting through FAST-41, and the first completed project in the State of North Carolina,
Emily Domenech, executive director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. Source 2.
What the review looked at
Before signing the finding, the department reviewed how construction would affect nearby streams, wetlands, land that holds water for at least part of the year, and open water, ponds and similar areas that hold water year round. Under a permit the Army Corps of Engineers issued in May 2025, the project would permanently fill 1 acre of stream channels, 5.43 acres of wetlands and 11.7 acres of open water. Weeks earlier, on March 12 2026, Albemarle Corporation finished pumping more than 1,000,000,000 gallons of rainwater that had collected in the old open pit since mining stopped, a job that took nearly 20 months. The finding also records that only 1 person commented when the draft review was open for public input, for 30 days beginning January 17 2025, and that comment opposed the project.
The stream figure is 8,896 linear feet of channel, which the same federal document converts to the 1 acre used here.
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| Stream channels | 1 |
| Wetlands | 5.43 |
| Open waters | 11.7 |
Why the government is paying for this
The push to fund a mine that closed in 1993 traces back to how dependent the United States is on imported lithium, the metal used in electric vehicle batteries. The United States Geological Survey says more than 50% of the lithium the country used from 2023 through 2025 came from imports. Of the lithium imported from 2021 through 2024, 54% came from Chile and 43% from Argentina, leaving just 3% from every other country combined.
Figures cover 2021 through 2024 and come from the United States Geological Survey.
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| Chile | 54 |
| Argentina | 43 |
| Other countries | 3 |
The department expects the project to create 1,000 construction jobs and 400 permanent operating jobs. The same government survey counts only 70 people employed in lithium mining and milling nationwide. The 400 operating jobs projected for this one site would be nearly 6 times the entire current national workforce, a comparison MAOWCE calculated from the 2 figures.
Scott Hutchins, senior director of business readiness at Albemarle Corporation, said what a restarted Kings Mountain Mine could mean for the country.
As one of North America's largest hard-rock lithium resources, the Kings Mountain Mine has the potential to play a key part in building a U.S.-based lithium supply chain,
Scott Hutchins, senior director of business readiness at Albemarle Corporation. Source 2.