20211126_L-Baldwin

From:
Lisa Baldwin
To:
NCMininoProaram
Subject:
[External] PIdmont Lithium
Date:
Friday, November 26, 2021 7:58:35 PM
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I am submitting written comments after attending both the in -person and virtual hearings,
it is clear that Piedmont Lithium's 1200 page application was thrown together in haste and
is so lengthy in the hopes that it won't be read in its entirety. I am asking that you deny
Piedmont Lithium's mining permit applications:
• Piedmont Lithium's inexperience with mining and employees, like Emily
Blackburn, who has no practical mining experience, leaves one to question the
validity of their reports, modeling and maps. We know that our family's two
drinking water wells were not on the dewatering maps.
• Dewatering so many family wells and depleting the aquifer is a cost greater than the
benefit of mining mica, feldspar, etc and a little bit of lithium (less than 3%).
Piedmont Lithium has stated in presentations to investors that they will hire
experienced miners from West Virginia. In fact their Project Manager is from
Charleston, West Virginia. They will exploit our natural resources but only hire a
few token North Carolinians/Gaston County residents.
• Piedmont Lithium continues to claim that China supplies most lithium when
in reality most of the global lithium supply is from Australia and Chile, U.S.
trading partners, NOT from China. While some politicians are calling for
increased domestic mining of the metal, at the end of May 2021, Reuters
News Service reported that the Biden Administration would supply the
majority of lithium from ally countries, including Canada, Australia, and
Brazil. Biden's administration understands how devastating to our ground
and surface water supplies the mine will be.
• Drought projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) show conditions for Gaston
County: htWs://www.drought.gov/location/Cherryyille%2C%2ONorth%2OCarolina.
Droughts are common in this area; see the seasonal prediction for drier and warmer
winter:
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.12hp. Also,
see the seasonal drought prediction:
• Piedmont Lithium is proposing 4 open pit hard rock mines, a concentrator plant and
lithium hydroxide chemical processing plant. They are estimating the total acreage
to be close to 3,000 acres. This area is zoned residential due to the many families
who live here. They all have wells and natural springs to supply their drinking
water. It is not an industrial/mining area. It is projected that about 500 homes'
drinking water will be affected by the mine. Most mines are in desolate,
unpopulated areas, not like the Charlotte metro area.
• "The mining and processing of lithium causes permanent and irreparable damage to

natural water systems. Half the world's population will reside in water stressed
areas by 2025, groundwater levels are falling globally, and depletion and pollution
of groundwater is predicted to be the single greatest water resource problem in the
coming 30 years." - from the Yes To Life, Not Mining Coalition
My son, Will Baldwin, has ordered 500 blueberry bushes to start a U-pick blueberry
farm on our family property at 426 Aderholdt Rd., on the rim of the proposed mine.
He will begin planting them in December 2021 (a couple of weeks). The two wells
on the property are missing on Piedmont Lithium's dewatering maps. He will need
lots of irrigation for his blueberry bushes. Piedmont will likely dry up the wells and
bankrupt his agri-business. Gaston County has a thriving $25+million agriculture
industry. Why destroy this so we can have a mining industry? I'd much rather we
produce farm products. We all have to eat...
Thank you for considering my concerns.
Lisa Baldwin
426 Aderholdt Rd.
Lincolnton, NC 28092
828-243-6590 cell