Sustainability / Our Comminities
Stakeholder Engagement
Educating, Understanding, and Responding to Our Stakeholders
Investor Relations
To keep individual and institutional investors informed, we comply with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), disseminating press releases, and making SEC filings for all material announcements. A copy of these announcements as well as our corporate policies can be found under the investors section of our corporate website. Stakeholders can also subscribe to our email communications through our website to stay informed on the latest corporate announcements and can submit questions via the website and info@piedmontlithium.com.
Our executives regularly speak at financial conferences, host meetings, and share information with the media to keep our institutional and individual investors informed. We also post frequently to social media platforms, and actively encourage investors to contact us with any questions. All our executives are committed to being accessible for our investors and regularly make themselves available to those who request a meeting.
As part of our efforts to keep investors informed, Piedmont Lithium CEO Keith Phillips conducts a range of media interviews to discuss lithium mining, the demand for lithium hydroxide, U.S. mining and manufacturing as well as the outlook for production.
Government Relations
We work with federal, state, and local governments to help educate officials on our projects as they develop. At the federal level, this includes informing officials across a range of groups – from the United States Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources – on the importance of developing lithium hydroxide production in the United States to help achieve energy security while creating American jobs.
We help inform government officials at the federal, state, and local levels in North Carolina and Tennessee to understand how our Carolina Lithium and Tennessee Lithium projects will contribute to the state’s position as a hub for the electrification sector as well as the tremendous economic impact and job creation we will bring to the region. We also help state and local governments understand the rigorous permitting processes currently underway for our projects, increasing awareness on the stringent regulatory requirements that we will meet to ensure safe, environmentally responsible operations.
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, who spoke at the open house of Piedmont’s headquarters in August 2022 supports the critical role the company’s projects will play in the North American supply chain for electric vehicles.
Community Relations
Through in-person meetings, phone calls, social media, and information shared with the media via press releases and interviews, we work to keep community residents and local businesses informed of our activities. We endeavor to educate residents near our planned Carolina Lithium project on key concerns, such as water impacts, traffic and dust, and noise and vibrations, and we help people understand our commitment to operating one of the world’s most sustainable lithium hydroxide operations.
A community website is currently being developed to provide information and resources to stakeholders and engagement with the communities in which the Carolina Lithium and Tennessee Lithium projects are located.
In partnership with Sugarlicious, a locally owned bakery, Piedmont reached out to more than 500 community members in July 2022 who are located near our proposed Carolina Lithium project. An invitation was sent, along with cookies, offering the opportunity to arrange a visit and discuss our plans for the integrated operation, answer any questions, and address concerns. Several people responded to our outreach and dozens of visits have been made to community members since.
Acting on Input
We value feedback from our stakeholders and act on input, when possible, to help optimize our project plans. Several modifications have been made to our proposed Carolina Lithium operation based on direct feedback from investors, government officials, and community members. These modifications include:
- Creating a fully-integrated lithium chemical manufacturing business on a single campus to minimize land impacts and consolidate transportation networks
- Moving away from lithium hydroxide manufacturing by acid leaching in favor of more advanced technologies
- Performing additional testing on our potential impacts to water resources in the area of our proposed operations
- Changing our quarrying plan to reduce reliance on diesel-operated trucks by utilizing electric-powered belt conveyor systems to reduce emissions, noise, and dust
- Modifying our proposed operations to reduce the number of road closures required for our project