Piedmont Lithium Limited intends to launch an open-pit lithium mine in North Carolina, which would be the only one of its type in the U.S.

According to media reports, the region west of Charlotte was once a mother lode of lithium and mining of the lightest metal could come back after years of import from other continents. The obvious reason behind the interest in domestic lithium lies in higher demand (especially since SK Innovation will build a lithium-ion cell factory in Georgia) and higher prices.

"Piedmont plans to extract lithium from mineral deposits in Gaston County, 25 miles west of Charlotte, in what geologists call the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt. Mines in the belt supplied most of the world's lithium from the 1950s through the 1980s, before producers turned to cheaper deposits in South America and Australia. Two global companies still process lithium in the area."