Graphite One to start permitting Alaskan mine development in spring 2025, construction in 2026
Graphite One will begin permitting of a planned graphite mine on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula in mid-2025 with plans to begin construction in 2027 and production in 2029, the company’s Alaska manager said Sept. 13.
The Alaska location is the largest natural graphite deposit in the US.
The mine is planned to produce 175,000 tons/year or natural graphite ore, enough to supply 8% of US needs, and will be the first U.S. domestic mine producing graphite mine in the U.S. since the last mine closed in 1995, said Mike Schaffner, the company’s senior vice president for operations told a business conference in Anchorage.
America is now dependent on China for natural graphite, which is used in variety of computer, military and other technologies including batteries for electric vehicles, Schaffner told the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, an oil service company trade association.
Vancouver-based Graphite One was formed in 2012 when it acquired rights to the graphite deposit, which was discovered in 1902 and saw limited production during World War I.
The company completed a pre-feasibility study in 2022 that considered a smaller mine but Schaffner said potential customers advised Graphite One to revise its plan and go bigger. Graphite One scaled the plan to up to 175,000 tons/year and has completed a summer 2024 exploration program at the deposit as part of a feasibility study for a larger mine, Schaffner said.
The US Department of Defense in 2023 awarded a $37.5 million grant to the company as part of a program to aid development of minerals important for defense, Schaffner said. The grant will pay for 50% of the feasibility study cost, and basically will speed development of the project by five years, he added.
The feasibility study will include estimates of measured and indicated resources needed for a 20 year-plus mine life but Schaffner said the known graphite resources in the area are much larger. The feasibility study is based on the drilling done to date at the ore body, he said.
Graphite ore will be concentrated at the site to a 95% purity and transported in containers by truck 18 miles to Nome, which is also engaged in an expansion of its port. The ore will be further concentrated to a 99% purity to be shipped to a manufacturing facility Graphite One is also developing in the Lower 48 states.
For that the company is considering an industrial site in Warren, Ohio, but is also examining a location in Washington state that would provide access to low-cost hydroelectric power. Graphite One would manufacture materials for anodes used in batteries. The company also plans a battery recycling unit as part of the project.
Graphite One is also experimenting with the use of natural graphite for the manufacture of firefighting foam with a goal of producing a product than can be used without the harmful chemicals in firefighting foam now used at airports, Schaffner said. Graphite One has received a $4.7 million federal defense logistics agency grant to support this work, which is being done in partnership with Vorbeck Materials of Maryland.