Graphite One surges on FAST-41 for Alaska project

Shares in Graphite One (TSXV: GPH; US-OTC: GPHOF) gained after the company said the U.S. government put it’s billion-dollar Alaskan project in a fast-track approval process.

Graphite One is advancing its Graphite Creek project — deemed America’s largest reserve of the battery metal — in the Kigluaik Mountains of Seward Peninsula, 60 km north of Nome. Output is planned for 2030 with initial capital spending at $1.13 billion. The government’s FAST-41 framework, designed to streamline a project’s permitting process, chose Graphite Creek as its first critical minerals project in the northern state. 

“With President Trump’s critical mineral and Alaska executive orders, Graphite One is positioned at the leading edge of a domestic critical mineral renaissance,” CEO Anthony Huston said in a release on Tuesday. The approval is a major step for “our complete U.S.-based supply chain strategy,” he said. 

Shares of Graphite One added 3.5% to 90¢ apiece in Toronto at mid-Wednesday after rising 4.8% a day earlier. Market capitalization stood at $133 million.

Ohio plant

The Alaskan deposit is the first link in Graphite One’s planned vertically integrated operation to produce lithium-ion battery anode materials and other graphite products for the U.S. market. The second link is an advanced manufacturing facility located in Ohio, which the company estimated would cost $3.92 billion to build. 

The FAST-41 approval follows Graphite One’s recent submission of a feasibility study on the project, which it completed 15 months ahead of schedule with support from the Department of Defense.

Tripled resource

The study outlined an annual production capacity of 175,000 tonnes in concentrate over 20 years for the Graphite Creek mine. This estimate is based on a three-fold increase in measured and indicated resources compared to the pre-feasibility study in 2022, at nearly 4.8 million tonnes of graphite.

Based on the improved resource, the study projected an after-tax net present value of over $5 billion at an 8% discount rate, an internal rate of return of 27% and a payback period of 7.5 years. 

“America’s dependency on foreign minerals and metals is a drag on our economy and a danger to our national security,” Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said. “Adding Graphite Creek to the FAST-41 permitting dashboard sends a strong signal that Alaska is key to US critical mineral development.”