The future looks cloudy for the Alabama miners.

You can ask GA-EPD to end the suspense by denying their permit application:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov

Dylan Jackson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 6, 2025, Controversial Okefenokee mine project delayed as company fails to post required funds: Georgia EPD says Twin Pines Minerals has not provided the $2 million in collateral required to obtain a permit.

Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia –AJC, June 6, 2025
AJC posted a picture captioned in part:
“Twin Pines began storing equipment at this site in Charlton County near the Okefenokee Swamp.”
They’ve been doing that since at least 2019, as this WWALS picture shows.

Twin Pines Minerals has not produced the $2 million bond or other collateral required to receive its permit to mine titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp, a delay that comes as the company and its affiliates continue to show signs of financial distress.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division spokeswoman Sara Lips confirmed on Wednesday that Twin Pines has yet to submit the financial assurance required for permit approval. The agency requested a bond or other collateral from the company in February 2024, shortly after draft permits were released.

…

Twin Pines declined to comment when asked by the AJC why the company has not paid the financial assurance.

In March, a federal court in Colorado entered a default judgment against Twin Pines in a case brought by a Danish shipping company that alleges it is owed $9.4 million in unpaid services, interest and attorneys fees, court records show. The case is now stayed pending arbitration.

In a lawsuit filed in a California state court that same month, M&L Commodities alleges Twin Pines and Trail Ridge Land LLC, an affiliated company that owns the roughly 600 acres of land where the mine would be built, have been “financially insolvent” for at least the past two years.

The lawsuit alleges they are shell companies that exist to evade creditors. Both companies are affiliated with Greenfuels Energy LLC, which is also named as a defendant.

The dispute centers on a contract Twin Pines struck with M&L Commodities in August 2021 for the storage of thousands of tons of mineral sand in California. M&L’s attorney alleges that, after years of timely payment, Twin Pines began falling behind in early 2023.

By June 2024, Twin Pines’ outstanding invoices ballooned to $4.2 million, according to the lawsuit.

Twin Pines President Steven Ingle struck a deal last August that converted the outstanding balance into a $3 million loan in exchange for over $1 million in debt forgiveness.

But unpaid invoices continued to pile up in the months following the deal. By February, Twin Pines accrued an additional $2.7 million in debt to M&L Commodities, according to the complaint.

M&L Commodities filed suit in March, demanding a total payment of roughly $5.7 million — the sum of the loan and remaining unpaid invoices — and accusing Twin Pines and other defendants of fraud and unjust enrichment, court records show.

“Defendants have since engaged in an unlawful pattern and practice of making false representations and financial assurances,” the complaint says.

TPM of course denies all that.

The AJC story then mentions:

Twin Pines previously operated a mine in Ione, California, which was cited by state regulators in September 2023 for operating without a permit.

The story continues about more fines and unpaid taxes.

I have an idea!

How about if GA-EPD denies the mining permit?

Then those Alabama miners can fade into the clouds.

SW across TPM mine site, GA 94, and RR –Wayne Morgan for WWALS, 2019-10-05, 22:12:39, on a Southwings flight for Suwannee Riverkeeper

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

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