The upgraded resource estimate for Graphite Creek and the growth poten- tial underscored by hole 22GC079 sets the stage for resource expansion drill- ing aimed at closer matching this po- tential domestic graphite supply with the rocketing demand for this lithium battery material. A 2022 prefeasibility study for Graphite Creek envisioned a mine that would produce an average of 51,813 metric tons of graphite concentrate per year and a processing and re- cycling facility in Washington that would upgrade the concentrates into 49,600 metric tons of spherical coat- ed graphite that serves as the anode material in lithium-ion batteries and 25,400 metric tons of other advanced graphite products per year. The growing demand for bat- tery-grade graphite, however, has the company considering larger opera- tions. The current measured and indicat- ed resource only accounts for a little over one kilometer (0.6 miles) of the more than 16 kilometers (10 miles) of graphite outlined with drilling, mapping, and geophysics at Graphite
Creek. In a 2022 report, S&P Global Platts forecasts that more than 5 million metric tons of graphite per year will be needed for EVs alone by 2030. This compares to roughly 1.3 mil- lion metric tons of graphite mined globally during 2022, according to the latest USGS figures. This means that global graphite production must more than triple in eight years just to meet automaker demand. Given the growing need for a do- mestic supply of the graphite needed to achieve North America's EV ambi- tions, Graphite One is now focused on building enough measured and indi- cated resources to support larger op- erations in Alaska and Washington. "(T)he continued expansion of our Graphite Creek resource will support our plan to quadruple the annual pro- duction from our PFS study," said Graphite One Senior Vice President of Mining Mike Schaffner. Toward this goal, Graphite One plans to complete a total of 20,000 meters of drilling in 2023 and 2024, subject to financing.
GRAPHITE ONE, CONTINUED from PAGE 8
"The Graphite Creek graphite de- posit, located in the Kigluaik Moun- tains 60 km north of Nome on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, is the largest known flake graphite re - source in the USA and is among the largest in the world," USGS penned in its report. This world-class deposit has the potential to be a major domestic source of graphite, the single largest ingredient in the lithium batteries powering electric vehicles and a min- eral for which the U.S. is 100% reliant on imports for its supply. "We've been very consistent about the potential we see in Graphite Creek," said Graphite One President and CEO Anthony Huston. "The rec- ognition by USGS coupled with this increase in our measured and indi- cated resources and the fact that we have explored only 26% of our graph- ite anomaly underscores that Graph- ite Creek is truly a generational re- source."
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The Alaska Miner
Spring 2023
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