Newry Couple’s Plans to Extract Lithium-Rich Ore Remain ‘on Hold’

Maine couple’s plans to extract lithium-rich ore remains ‘on hold’

This story appears as part of a collaboration to strengthen investigative journalism in Maine between the BDN and The Maine Monitor. Read more about the partnership. It was more than a year ago that Maine regulators approved final changes to Maine’s 2017 mining law, capping a yearlong process that was designed to clear the way for the development of a lithium-rich deposit in the western part of the state. So far, the overhaul has done little, if…

Newry couple’s plans to extract lithium-rich ore remain ‘on hold’

Changes to Maine's mining law didn't go far enough, said Mary and Gary Freeman, who in 2021 discovered a lithium deposit on their land estimated to be worth $1.5 billion.

Newry couple's plans to extract lithium-rich ore remains 'on hold'

"The mining regulations in Maine are not designed to promote environmentally safe extraction but rather to ban mining," Mary Freeman contends.