• JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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    13 hours ago

    Stay the fuck off Plumbago thanks, Maine doesn’t want it’s mountain tops chopped off like fucking West Virginia. I love that since we have a state ban on metal extraction, and even though the lithium is bound as a silicate mineral (spudomeme, sp) it’s technically a metal and that’s prevented it’s extraction so far.

    Also they are the largest lithium crystals found, I believe, anywhere. We’re talking 30ft long tree trunk sized crystals embedded in matrix, some of which have been exposed and are insanely cool to look at. The site is on private land but it’s not terribly difficult to get in contact with folks who have permission up there. Maine has a very long history of mineral extraction, and some of the richest gem deposits in North America, but the size of this locality and the type of mining proposed would be a massive problem for a relatively pristine area of Northern Mixed Hardwood and Conifer forest, not to mention the very small towns in the area that would be entirely transformed in the process.