This story was updated on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at 6:12 p.m.
After half a decade of public comments, permit revisions, scientific inquiries and debates, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has completed everything needed for a controversial mining project next door to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
The department says applicant Twin Pines Minerals, LLC must pay a fee of about $2 million to complete the permit, but the company hasn’t settled up, putting the long-sought-after permit in purgatory.
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