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Tesla supplier Piedmont Lithium gains mining approval in North Carolina

Credit: Piedmont Lithium

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Tesla supplier Piedmont Lithium has been granted approval to set up mining operations in North Carolina, though it still may face some barriers in developing a future operation.

After filing for the mining permit in August 2021, Piedmont has faced some local backlash and regulatory challenges for the site outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. However, according to a press release, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality on Monday approved Piedmont’s original permit, doing away with a massive obstacle in the company’s hopes to mine a lithium deposit in Gaston County.

The new approval is still conditional on the posting of a $1 million reclamation bond, and many in nearby areas have expressed concerns surrounding water, noise pollution, and additional environmental and community issues. North Carolina has never denied a mining permit application before.

The site is expected to include both a Lithium hydroxide conversion facility and a Spodumene concentrator, as can be seen in the company’s renderings below.

Lithium hydroxide conversion facility. Credit: Piedmont Lithium

Spodumene concentrator. Credit: Piedmont Lithium

The mine is expected to be 500 feet deep, and Piedmont still needs to be granted a local zoning variance, which is expected to cost more than $1 billion. Piedmont Lithium has also applied for loans from the U.S. Department of Energy, using a program that competitors such as ioneer and Lithium Americas have gained past funding from.

“We plan to develop Carolina Lithium as one of the lowest-cost, most sustainable lithium hydroxide operations in the world,” said Keith Phillips, Piedmont Lithium CEO. “The Project is expected to contribute billions of dollars of economic output and several hundred jobs to Gaston County and North Carolina’s growing electrification economy.”

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If the project comes to fruition, the Carolina Lithium site would become one of the only lithium-producing sites in the U.S., as automakers eagerly look to bolster their raw mineral supply chain and reduce reliance on China and other countries.

Last year, Piedmont also inked a multi-year deal with Tesla for the supply of spodumene concentrate (SC6), which is another raw material used in the production of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The deal is expected to run through 2025, though it the parties can also extend the agreement by an additional three years.

Tesla has also been making progress on its own Lithium Refinery, which will eventually process raw lithium materials into battery-grade lithium for use in EVs.

Piedmont Lithium CEO says not enough lithium to meet U.S. demand by 2030 or 2035

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Elon Musk

Tesla analyst: ‘near zero chance’ Elon Musk’s $1T comp package is rejected

“There is a near-zero chance that $TSLA shareholders will vote down Elon’s new proposed comp plan at the Nov 6 shareholders’ meeting.”

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tesla elon musk

A Tesla analyst says there is “zero chance” that CEO Elon Musk’s new compensation package is rejected, a testament to the loyalty and belief many shareholders and investors have in the frontman.

Tesla investors will vote on November 6 at the annual Shareholder Meeting to approve a new compensation package for Musk, revealed by the company’s Board of Directors earlier this month.

The package, if approved, would give Musk the opportunity to earn $1 trillion in stock, an ownership concentration of over 27 percent (a major request of Musk’s), and a solidified future at the company.

The Tesla Community on X, the social media platform Musk bought in 2023, is overwhelmingly in favor of the pay package, though a handful of skeptics remain.

Nevertheless, the big pulls of this vote are held by proxy firms and other large-scale investors. Two of them, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, said they would be voting against Musk’s proposed compensation plan.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package hits first adversity from proxy firm

Today, the State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA) said it would vote in favor of Musk’s newly-proposed pay day, making it the first large-scale shareholder to announce it would support the CEO’s pay.

One analyst said that Musk’s payday is inevitable. Gary Black of the Future Fund said today there is a “near-zero chance” that shareholders will allow Musk’s pay package to be rejected:

There is a near-zero chance that $TSLA shareholders will vote down Elon’s new proposed comp plan at the Nov 6 shareholders’ meeting.”

He added an alternative perspective from Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who said that he had a better chance of starting for the New York Yankees than the comp package not being approved.

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Black’s the Future Fund sold its Tesla holdings earlier this year. He explained that the firm believed the company’s valuation was too disconnected from fundamentals, citing the P/E ratio of 188x and declining earnings estimates.

The firm maintained its $310 price target, and shares were trading at $356.90 that day.

Shares closed at $452.42 today.

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The latest predictions from betting platform Kalshi have shown Musk’s comp package has a 94 percent chance of being approved:

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Elon Musk

Tesla gains massive vote of confidence on compensation plan for Elon Musk

“”The SBA supported Tesla’s 2018 performance award proposal and reaffirmed that support in the 2024 Tesla shareowner vote. The total return on Tesla’s stock after enactment of its 2018 performance award and the prior history of incentive structured plans leads us to strongly support the proposed 2025 CEO performance award.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla gained a massive vote of confidence on its proposed $1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk from the State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA) on Monday.

On Monday, the SBA submitted a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stating that it would vote to support Musk’s compensation plan, just as it did with the 2018 performance award and its second vote last year:

“The SBA supported Tesla’s 2018 performance award proposal and reaffirmed that support in the 2024 Tesla shareowner vote. The total return on Tesla’s stock after enactment of its 2018 performance award and the prior history of incentive structured plans leads us to strongly support the proposed 2025 CEO performance award. We believe the proposed award continues to promote an aggressive strategy to align incentives between management and shareowners and focuses solely on pecuniary factors and long-term shareowner value creation.”

This is the first large-scale shareholder that has come out and supported Musk’s potential compensation plan, which was outlined by Tesla and its Board of Directors earlier this month.

Most of the news surrounding Musk’s pay plan has been the opposite of what the SBA said today, as Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, two proxy firms, said they would be voting against the compensation package.

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Tesla Board Chair defends Elon Musk’s pay plan, slams proxy advisors

Musk replied to their vote last week during the Q3 Earnings Call, calling them “corporate terrorists.”

He said:

“I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here and then being ousted because of some asinine recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, who have no freaking clue. I mean, those guys are corporate terrorists. The problem, yeah. Let me explain, like, the core problem here is that so many of the index funds, passive funds, vote along the lines of whatever Glass Lewis and ISS recommend. They’ve made many terrible recommendations in the past. If those recommendations had been followed, they would have been extremely destructive to the future of the company.”

SBA’s perspective on the plan relies on what Musk has done in the past decade with Tesla, as he has driven company growth, increased shareholder value, and kept the company on track with its lofty and ambitious goals.

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It also outlined nine reasons to support Musk’s compensation:

  1. Pure Pay for Performance Design – Entirely Performance-Based, aligns with Shareowners
  2. Size of the Award and Share Count – Performance-based allocation, dilution tied to value creation, structured milestone design
  3. Market Capitalization Milestones – Clear, tiered targets, sustained performance requirement, shareholder value focus
  4. Operational/Product Milestones – Clear, quantifiable goals, strategic product focus, financial discipline, multi-quarter evaluation windows
  5. Vesting/Holding Periods – Long-term vesting structure, mandatory holding period, continuous service requirement
  6. CEO Succession – Succession planning requirement, performance integrity safeguard
  7. Time Horizon and Duration – Extended performance window of 10 years, no intermediate vesting
  8. Dilution & Voting Power Implications – Potential for significant ownership increase, permanent dilution
  9. Ambition and Stretch Goals – Extraordinary Scale of Growth, Shareowner value focus

Shareholders will vote on Musk’s compensation package on November 6 at the annual Shareholder Meeting.

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Tesla Optimus gets its latest job, and it’s not in the company’s factories

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Credit: Tesla Optimus | X

Tesla Optimus was spotted in its latest job placement, not at any of the company’s manufacturing or production facilities.

Optimus was instead spotted in New York City at Times Square, handing out Halloween candy to people:

It is not Tesla Optimus’s first gig in the service industry, as it has already secured several employment opportunities through the company’s projects. Last year, it served drinks at the company’s We, Robot day, where the Cybercab and Robovan were unveiled.

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Additionally, Optimus has been helping out at the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, serving popcorn and greeting guests.

Elon Musk reveals big plans for Tesla Optimus at the Supercharger Diner

Optimus has many capabilities, and its applications can benefit both residential and commercial users. It is designed to be an at-home assistant, helping with tedious, monotonous tasks around the house.

In a commercial setting, Optimus will be programmed to handle everything from manufacturing to other factory-type tasks, as Tesla has already been using the robot in its own factories for smaller jobs.

Optimus has been in development for several years, but Tesla is ready to turn up the heat in terms of its capabilities and engineering as it prepares to launch it to a wider audience in the coming years.

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During the recent Q3 Earnings Call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave updates on the Optimus project, highlighting its progress and the company’s current development status.

Musk said that Tesla is “on the cusp of something really tremendous with Optimus, which I think is likely to be, has the potential to be, the biggest product of all time.” He also mentioned that Tesla is in an interesting position because not only has it established itself as one of the biggest car companies in the country, but it’s the only company that manufactures vehicles and has a monumental grasp of the importance of AI and robotics.

“I’m unaware of any robot program by Ford or GM or, you know, by U.S. car companies,” he said.

Musk added that Optimus has some pretty big responsibilities around Tesla’s factories:

“I mean, bringing Optimus to market is an incredibly difficult task, to be clear. It’s not like some walk in the park. At some point, I mean, actually, technically, Optimus can walk in the park right now. We do have Optimus robots that walk around our offices at our engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, California, basically twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”

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Right now, it appears Tesla is having its biggest challenge with the Optimus project around the development of its hands and forearms, which Musk called “an incredible thing” on the human body:

“The human hand is an incredible thing. The more you study the human hand, the more incredible you realize it is, and why you need four fingers and a thumb, why the fingers have certain degrees of freedom, why the various muscles are of different strengths, and fingers are of different lengths. It turns out that those are all there for a reason…Making the hand and forearm, because most of the actuators, just like the human hand, the muscles that control your hand are actually primarily in your forearm. The Optimus hand and forearm are an incredibly difficult engineering challenge. I’d say it’s more difficult than the rest of the robot from an electromechanical standpoint.”

Tesla is stumped on how to engineer this Optimus part, but they’re close

Optimus is starting to get more visibility in the public, and Tesla’s move to put it smack dab in the middle of New York City is one that will certainly bring some additional eyes to its development.

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