Defense department helps fund feasibility study for graphite mine near Nome

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a $37.5 million advanced technology grant to Vancouver, B.C.-based Graphite One Inc. to help fund a feasibility study for the company’s proposed graphite mine on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska.

Graphite One will invest $37.5 million of its own funds for the study, which is estimated to cost $75 million. The company’s project is 35 miles west of Nome, the largest community in the region, which has port facilities suitable for ocean shipping of ore concentrates.

A pre-feasibility study has already complete. The final feasibility study involves final engineering and cost estimates and is typically done just before a final investment decision.

The planned mine is near the Nome-Teller Highway, a year-road link. This would allow trucking of ore concentrate to Nome for shipping.

The deposit at Graphite Creek, where the mine is proposed, has been identified by the U.S. Geological Survey as the nation’s largest high-quality graphite deposit.

Graphite has applications in the aerospace and energy sectors snd is used in batteries, brake linings, lubricants, powdered metals and steelmaking. It is also used in renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels, due to its resistance to extreme heat. The United States is now dependent on imports of graphite, mainly from China.

“Thank you to the Department of Defense for recognizing the importance of Alaska’s vast mineral wealth, one example being Graphite One,” said Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy. “Because of projects like Graphite One, we’ll continue to lead in producing natural resources like critical minerals,” Dunleavy said in a statement.

Laura Taylor-Kate, Assistant Secretary for Industrial Base Policy at the Defense Department, said: “This investment to increase industrial capabilities for graphite exemplifies our commitment to building and industrial base to meet current and future national defense requirements,” in this case materials for advanced batteries.

Graphite one CEO Anthony Huston said the company intends to manufacture battery anodes and to do recycling in Washington state, so there will be a complete U.S. supply chain.

If built, the mine would operate as a surface mine producing 4 million tonnes of ore with a graphite concentration of 7 percent, according to the company. The ore would be processed in a facility adjacent to the mine to produce 30,000 tonnes of dried concentrate with d a graphite content of 95 percent, Graphite One said.

Alaska’s Seward Peninsula has a long history in mining dating from the historic gold rush at Nome in the early 19th century where prospectors mined rich gold placer deposits on the beach. Placer gold is still being mined there.

Because of that history, the region has always been politically supportive of mining, an important consideration at a time when many Alaska minerals projects are stalled by environmental lawsuits filed by local groups.