Graphite One expects more production at proposed mine
Graphite One’s projected production rate could triple their initial estimates from 2022, according to a press release by the company on Thursday, preceding the publication of the mine’s feasibility study. The press release came on the heels of an executive order by President Donald Trump, signed March 20, “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production.”
The Canadian Mining Company conducted drilling programs in 2023 and 2024 – funded in a cost share agreement with the Department of Defense – to inform the feasibility study, increasing the amount of mineral resource they’re able to consider for the proposed graphite mine. The resource is located at the Graphite Creek property, on the north face of the Kigluaik Mountains. The property is 23,680 acres of state mining claims, facing the Imuruk Basin.
Graphite One is now finalizing the feasibility study which will fully define the viability of the proposed mine plan and allow them to begin the search for funding. The study is expected to come within 45 days of the press release, sent out March 27. Originally the deadline for the study was December of 2024.
“Graphite Creek is now triple the size it was when USGS just 3 years ago deemed it ‘the largest flake graphite deposit in the U.S.’” the press release stated.
While the proposed mine plan hasn’t gotten larger, the information about the known areas of the deposit has grown, “increasing our knowledge and confidence in what we assume to be in the ground,” Vice President of Mining at Graphite One, Kevin Torpy wrote in an email to the Nugget.
“Graphite One took on the goal of increasing the mine’s throughput in order to remain economically competitive with foreign graphite as we establish a fully U.S. domestic supply chain,” Torpy wrote. “By increasing the throughput, we are able to decrease the mine’s operating costs by upsizing mining and processing equipment without increasing fixed costs.”
In 2023, when Graphite One approached Tesla and Ford, they were told the mine would need to be much bigger than initially proposed in the pre-feasibility study, as reported in the Nugget.
Senior Vice President at Graphite One Mike Schaffner said Tesla told them they were interested, but in a mine producing 40 times what G1 was proposing. At the time of Graphite One’s pre-feasibility study, there was concern that too much production from the mine could flood the market and drive the price of graphite down, due to low demand, Torpy explained.
“By the time the pre-feasibility study was completed, the outlook on graphite demand had changed dramatically,” Torpy wrote. “Hence the comment from EV manufacturers that they need much more product than the project would generate under the pre-feasibility study assumptions.”
A majority of graphite used in the U.S. currently comes from China, with significant imports from Canada and Mexico. Used in the production of electric vehicle batteries and electronics, graphite is identified as a critical mineral by the U.S. Department of Energy.
“The success of the recent drilling programs at Graphite Creek has been very exciting and allowed us to achieve our goal of increasing the Project’s daily ore production rate at the mine to 10,000 tonnes [metric tons] per day while maintaining 20 years or greater of mine life,” Torpy wrote.
Graphite One responded to Trump’s executive order stating it’s the “the strongest signal yet” that the government recognizes the security need for critical minerals and is committed to accelerating development. The order instructs federal agencies to advance approvals for development, waiving certain legal requirements under the “national emergency” provision of the Defense Production Act.
“With President Trump’s new Executive Order, G1 is working with Congress, the Administration, and federal agencies to accelerate our Graphite One supply chain project through permitting and into production, to end the nation’s 100% import dependency for graphite,” Anthony Huston, CEO of Graphite One said.
Bering Straits Native Corporation is an investor in Graphite One, currently at $2 million, but with the option to invest up to $8 million in the future.
Concern has been expressed by local communities and tribes who are unsure of how the mine could impact the habitats and subsistence resources in the Imuruk Basin and surrounding area they’ve lived on for thousands of years.
During the 2025 Iditarod Sled Dog Race in March, there were multiple protests held against mining on the Seward Peninsula, with Graphite One’s mine specifically mentioned. Protestors lined up at the Ceremonial Start in Anchorage, at the restart in Fairbanks and were there with signs when Champion Jessie Holmes crossed under the Burled Arch in Nome.
Each spring, Graphite One holds community outreach events in Nome, Teller and Brevig. They are expected again this year, Torpy said dates are still being worked out with the Subsistence Advisory Committee and communities.