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Primary sources for lithium like pegmatites and volcanic clays are well understood, but finding other stores that are safe and economical to exploit would be helpful.

The pegmatites in the Spruce Pine Mineral District, an area about 25 miles long and 10 miles wide, were formed hundreds of millions of years ago under intense heat and pressure.

Some of the most visually striking – the emeralds, garnets, topazes and aquamarines that Busse seeks – are pegmatites that form when magma forces its way into underground cracks, then cools slowly.

Piedmont Lithium says it would be the nation’s only hard-rock mine, extracting lithium from a mineral, spodumene, that is found in rock called pegmatite.

The resulting folds are easy to see, because molten pegmatite penetrated the voids.