Lithium Corporation of America was a mining company which mined

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid ...

-bearing spodumene and

pegmatite A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic co ...

ores near Bessemer City,

Gaston County Gaston County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 227,943. The county seat is Gastonia. Dallas served as the original county seat from 1846 until 1911. Gaston County is included in ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

, United States and in the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. In September 1959, Lithium Corporation of America was sued for breach of contract by a Canadian producer of lithium concentrate, Quebec Lithium Corporation, from which it had been buying lithium concentrate. In 1985, Lithium Corporation of America was acquired by

FMC Corporation FMC Corporation is an American chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which originated as an insecticide producer in 1883 and later diversified into other industries. In 1941 at the beginning of US involvemen ...

, formerly known as Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation. At the time it was acquired, the company was the world's largest producer of lithium. FMC's lithium operations were known as FMC Lithium. In 2019 FMC completed the spin-off of its lithium operations as a new company, Livent Corporation.

References

Mining companies of the United States Gaston County, North Carolina FMC Corporation Lithium mining {{US-company-stub