After 22 months of agency review and Wake Stone fully complying with and responding to seven formal requests for additional information, the mining permit was denied by NC Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources (DEMLR) in February 2022. Wake Stone appealed this decision to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) under the provisions of the Mining Act of 1971 and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). In February of 2023, after nearly a year of legal filings, discovery, and depositions, a full trial was held over the course of several days in the OAH with Chief Administrative Law Judge Donald van der Vaart presiding. After reviewing the entire record and testimonies in the case, the administrative court in August 2023, reversed the decision to deny the Application, finding that the denial was both unlawful and arbitrary and capricious. In accordance with the ruling by the court, and as part of a settlement agreement between Wake Stone and DEMLR, the Mining Permit was issued on September 8, 2023, with existing and additional conditions to protect Umstead State Park. In November 2023, the final terms of the agreement were settled. Although a contested case was filed by third parties against the issuance of the permit, those parties have subsequently voluntarily dismissed the case against DEMLR.