A tour of Graphite One’s camp
This summer, Graphite One continued another season of exploration at the Graphite Creek deposit on the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains, as the December 2024 feasibility study deadline for the proposed graphite mine nears.
Last week, the Nugget traveled to the exploration campsite located about 60 miles north of Nome to learn about what occurred during the summer drilling operation.
To get to the Graphite One camp it requires a drive down the cratered Kougarok Road to mile 27, where a contracted Pathfinder helicopter awaits. The cloud cover determines how low to the ground it flies through Mosquito Pass, where a proposed road to the mine site would cut through the currently untouched land.
Perched between the Kigluaik Mountains and Imuruk Basin, a small city of beige tents resides atop a flat pad of disturbed tundra, with everything 60 people would need to survive far away from stores or urban conveniences.
The mineral exploration company is based in Vancouver, Canada, but six of the 10 year-round employees are Anchorage-based, according to Vice President of Mining Kevin Torpy, who led the tour of camp.
At the peak of this summer, the camp saw 60 people, with an additional camp in Nome, staged at Satellite Field, able to house 24 workers.
2024 field program
It was a busy summer for the 2024 field program, Torpy explained as he weaved through temporary huts, many in the process of being dismantled as the season ends and the project anticipates less workforce needed in the next few years.
This season, 11,500 feet of drilling were done, the number the company provided for now. More exact numbers will likely be released later in the year once results come back from the mineral quality testing.
This year the project was focused on geotechnical drilling, which will provide information to how the mine will take shape and be engineered.
In previous years the drilling was to define the mineral resource, which established the one-mile stretch across the mountain, confirmed to contain graphite stores. Looking up at the mountains from camp, scars across the face are visible where dirt roads have been carved to reach drilling spots. ATVs traipse across the rugged paths transporting people and materials. There is a mechanic on site who is constantly repairing the vehicles as the routes “do a number on them,” Torpy said.
The process of taking samples begins with a drilling machine, cores are removed and sent to the campsite in Nome where visiting geologists photograph, measure density of and log the core. From there the core is sliced in half lengthwise with half saved in case future testing is needed and the other section pulverized and reduced to a small sample, which then is shipped off to an assay lab in Ontario specializing in graphite and where the mineral content is determined.
On top of drilling there were several other operations taking place, which will inform the feasibility study. These include baseline studies on features of the mining site, surface and ground water quality, hydrogeologic investigations, bathymetric and water quality characterization of the Imuruk Basin, fish and aquatic species surveys, raptor nesting and cultural heritage/archaeological investigations. Surveys were conducted by contracted companies that traveled to the camp throughout the summer.
Features at Camp
Surrounded by an electric bear fence, tents at camp are owned by a contractor Alaska Minerals who also provides kitchen staff.
One hut boasts nine pairs of washers and dryers and a row of private bathrooms with showers. Another is the recreation tent, a space occupied by a few exercise machines and a foosball table.
Supplies are slung in by helicopter. In the beginning of the season, when operations were in full swing, there were two helicopters making regular trips all day from camp to the loading point at mile 27. Now that things are winding down, only one chopper is flying, but still taking multiple trips a day, when weather allows. There is a helipad at the edge of camp, but the machine can land in many spots across the tundra and is often used to take drillers or surveyors to hard-to-reach locations in the Kigluiaks.
The project has a domestic wastewater treatment plant which cleans and discharges used water back into the tundra, permitted by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources through Temporary Water Use Authorizations, or TWUA. A water well near camp treats water for drinking, cooking, laundry, showers, and flush toilets and stores it in two 2,500-gallon water tanks.
Water used for drilling operations is sourced from streams and ponds near drill sites allowed by TWUA. The main sources have been Graphite Creek and Glacier Canyon Creek, both are non-fish-bearing, Torpy said.
“Once that water is used at the drill, the cuttings (ground rock) are settled out in sumps and then discharged to the tundra where it ultimately returns to the same water shed from which it was withdrawn,” Torpy explained.
Graphite Creek and Glacier Canyon Creek both feed into the Imuruk Basin which lies about three miles from the camp.
Wind and rain proved to be the biggest challenge to ongoing exploration activities. With wind speeds reaching over 70 miles per hour at times, coring had to be suspended on multiple occasions, Torpy said. A weather station at the camp site records current weather conditions.
What’s next?
The next steps for the mining operation are to complete the feasibility study, which is set to be finalized by the end of this year. In 2023 the Dept. of Defense announced their financial support of the project to accelerate the feasibility study. On May 17, 2024, the cost-share agreement with the Department of Defense was revised to adjust the DoD’s share of expenditures related to the accelerated feasibility study from 50 percent to 75 percent based on a revised contract value of $49.8 million. The DoD’s maximum share is now $37.3 million. The feasibility study will include the environmental, geotechnical, engineering, camp support and drilling activities.
“Ground disturbing activities such as development of the drill trails…are specifically excluded from DoD funding and 100 percent paid for by Graphite One,” Torpy wrote in an email.
Following study completion, the company can begin applying for necessary permits.