Deposit

Bessemer City

Bessemer City is a deposit with published resource estimates in North Carolina, recorded in the USGS lithium deposits in the United States selected-sites dataset (2020 release).

Facts on this page last re-verified Aug 18, 2026 — the oldest verification date among its current claims. How we verify.

Location: North Carolina, United States (35.336, -81.314 approx.)

Commodities: lithium

Deposit model: lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite · unclassified

Geology

“The Hallman-Beam ore dikes preferentially intruded brittle amphibolite and gneiss along planes of weakness oriented N80°W, 40°N and N50°W, vertical. The "unzoned" spodumene ore is composed of rhythmically layered spodumene-rich and spodumene-depleted aplite, coarse- and medium-grained pegmatite which collectively have a bulk composition of 20 percent spodumene, 25 percent quartz, 33 percent albite, 15 percent potassium feldspar, 6 percent muscovite and 1 percent accessory phases. Peripheral barren dikes, including garnet aplite/pegmatite, biotite-garnet pegmatite and beryl pegmatite, intruded along N20°E, 60°N joints, faults and fold axial planes. Very rarely spodumene is a constituent of the barren phases. Structural elements of the pegmatites including boudinage, attenuation, shearing and fluxion structure in the barren species and intrusion breccias, stope blocks and inclusions, folded aplites and crystal alignment in the spodumene pegmatites suggest a complex emplacement scenario. The chemically evolving lithium rich magma vascillated between water-saturated and water-undersaturated conditions, due to synchronous folding and faulting, which produced the textural triplet in the ore and the various barren dike phases seen in the hanging footwalls.” (Spanjers (1990))

Published resource estimates

As compiled by USGS USMIN from the cited studies. Resource classes follow the source; "approximate" flags values USMIN reports as approximations. These are not current company reserve statements.

Material	Class	Amount	Grade	Contained	As of	Reference
lithium oxide (Li2O)	Unclassified	—	1.5 percent	—	Jan 1, 2009	North Arrow Minerals Inc. (2009), Page 1 — North Arrow Minerals Inc., 2009, North Arrow set to commence exploration at North Carolina lithium project: North Arrow Minerals Inc. Web page, accessed May 11, 2018, at http://northarrowminerals.com/news/press_releases/2009/index.php?content_id=64
lithium (Li)	Possible	—	0.65 percent	—	Jan 1, 1976	Kesler (1978), Page 284, Table 1 — Kesler, T.L., 1978, Raw Lithium Supplies: Transactions of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum engineers, Incorporated, v. 264, p. 283-284.
lithium (Li)	Proven	—	0.68 percent	—	Jan 1, 1976	Kesler (1978), Page 284, Table 1 — Kesler, T.L., 1978, Raw Lithium Supplies: Transactions of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum engineers, Incorporated, v. 264, p. 283-284.
lithium (Li)	Probable	—	0.69 percent	—	Jan 1, 1976	Kesler (1978), Page 284, Table 1 — Kesler, T.L., 1978, Raw Lithium Supplies: Transactions of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum engineers, Incorporated, v. 264, p. 283-284.

Recorded production

Bessemer City, Hallman-Beam mine: produced an unstated amount of lithium (Li), 1974–1980 (Anstett and others (1990), Page 23, Table 12)

Exploration and site history

Active — Commenced operations in 1969, and production ceased in the 1990's, 1969–1990 (Swanson (2012))

Record imported from USGS USMIN ver. 4.0 (June 2019). Developments after that date appear on facility records, not here; see the methodology.

Sources

U.S. Geological Survey · published Jun 1, 2020 · retrieved Aug 18, 2026 · archive