20211115_S-Snowdon

November 15, 2021
Good evening Mining Commission. I want to personally thank each of you for
making the trip to Gaston County. My name is Sonya Snowdon and our family
owns 5 Pines Farm at 611 Aderholdt Road. We are a certified tree farm and our 4th
generation family farm sits on nearly 200 acres that directly butts up against PL's
proposed East Pit. Our family has been on this land since 1940 when my
grandfather, Paul Hastings, started his dairy farm to serve the community. As a
farmer and early environmentalist, my grandfather won multiple Soil & Water
Conservation awards for his erosion prevention and care for the land and water.
We value his efforts for managing the land and water responsibly and see this
proposed mine as destroying the natural resources that my grandfather worked his
entire life to protect.
Our farmhouse was built in 1940 by my grandfather using timber and rocks from
our fields. The house sits on a dry -stacked stone foundation and by today's
standards, the house is over -spanned with 2x5 ceiling joists on 24-36" centers, also
built by my grandfather. Our five barns and sheds are of similar construction and
have stood for the last 80 years to protect livestock and feed, tractors and
implements. We have a concrete silo adjacent to our barn and the Carpenter -Wise
Cemetery is just behind the barn with headstones dating back to the 1840s. And
we of course have a drinking well, which by the way is not even referenced on
Piedmont Lithium's Appendix H Groundwater Model showing the predicted
drawdown in local wells. All of these features make up our farm, our history, and
are within 600' of Piedmont's proposed East Pit. We are deeply concerned about
the impact the blasting and the vibrations from the proposed mine will have on our
farm — on the structures and the cemetery, but also on the land itself, the wildlife
on the land, the air we breathe, the water we drink. We are concerned what the
blasting will do to our overall shallow water table across our property - to our
shallow 90' deep drinking well, our spring fed pond, our shared pristine branch,
our wetlands, and our wildlife that are not addressed in this permit application.
This area of Gaston County has weathered -fragile rock on which admittingly no
one knows the impact the blasting will have. We've yet to see a definitive blasting
schedule, the chemicals that will be used in the blasting that will certainly leach

into our water, how the company will bore their blast holes, how frequent the
blasting will occur. Maybe this information is buried in the 1,200 pages of technical
reports submitted, but I've not yet found such. How about some real facts to those
who will be impacted? How about being a good neighbor and letting us know the
real concerns, not just trying to reach out to neighboring properties to start
conversations in an attempt to purchase our properties? How about reaching out
to neighbors whose land is outside the required 1500' mine permit courtesy
buffer? We know from past mining in the area that the impacts to water, wildlife,
and the health of citizens will go well beyond 1,500' from the pit. Piedmont needs
to be concerned with the impact on property within a mile or more of their
proposed mine. They have done nothing to protect the adjacent landowners'
health and property.
Piedmont Lithium has suggested to this Mining Commission and to their
shareholders that they have met with neighbors and completed "Pre Blast
Surveys" of our properties. We share nearly 1.3 miles of direct property lines with
Piedmont and never have we been asked to complete such a survey. Ultimately I
think we all know what a "Pre Blast Survey" would say about our family's
farmhouse and our barns in such close proximity to their blasting — they will crack,
they will fall down. What does this Mining Commission and Piedmont Lithium
intend to do to protect our rights and our property? There has been little invitation
for Q&A with real answers to real questions and I would agree with what
Commissioner Traci Philbeck stated at the July 20t" Gaston County Commissioner's
meeting, that "...Piedmont Lithium has gotten off to a terrible start, particularly
with the neighbors whose concerns have not been taken legitimately." I would say
this continues to be the case.
Again, NC Mining Commission, we thank you for your time this evening as the
scope and scale of this proposed mine is significant and impactful to our family and
our neighbors. Knowing that we have roughly 1,100 citizens per square mile who
call this area of Gaston County their home, I suggest much more work and due
diligence needs to take place to understand the extent of blasting that Piedmont is
proposing. I request this NC Mining Commission require Piedmont Lithium to
complete a larger definitive study of blasting effects around the proposed mining
site and also request that Gaston County require a second independently
commissioned definitive survey of blasting effects with true interaction and fact

gathering from the citizens within several miles of the site to protect the citizens'
health and their property.
Thank you for your time and commitment to protect the environment and citizens,
as your NC Mining Commission mission statement reads. I request my comments
be made part of the public record.
Thank you.