Using funds appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy will award US mining company Graphite One $37.5 million to support development of a graphite supply chain solution based at the company’s Graphite Creek deposit on the Seward Peninsula about 37 miles north of Nome.

The grant follows the designation of graphite by the Defense Production Act as a battery material “essential to national defense.” The US is currently completely dependent on imported graphite; China is the leading producer.

The proposed Graphite One project is a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture anode materials primarily for the lithium‐ion EV battery market. Initial processing into concentrate at a plant adjacent to the mine would be followed by the manufacture of natural and artificial graphite anode materials and other value‐added graphite products from the concentrate and other materials at a proposed facility, expected to be located in Washington State. Plans also call for a co-located recycling facility to reclaim graphite and other battery materials.

“This Department of Defense (DoD) grant underscores our confidence in our strategy to build a 100% US-based advanced graphite supply chain—from mining to refining to recycling,” said Anthony Huston, founder and CEO of Graphite One.

Source: Department of Defense