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Graphite One Inc.
Graphite One Inc. [TSX-V: GPH | OTCQB: GPHOF] (the “Company” or “GPH”) is exploring, with the intent to develop its Graphite One Project (the “Project”), whereby the Company could potentially become the dominant American producer of high grade Coated Spherical Graphite (“CSG”) that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade CSG primarily for the electric vehicle lithium-ion battery market. Graphite mineralization mined from the Company’s Graphite Creek Property (the “Property”), situated on the Seward Peninsula about 55 kilometers (37 miles) north of Nome, Alaska, would be processed into concentrate at a mineral processing plant (the “Processing Plant”) to be located adjacent to the mine. The graphite concentrate would be shipped to the Company’s proposed product manufacturing facility (the “Manufacturing Plant”) where CSG and other value-added graphite products would be manufactured. Its location is subject to further study and analysis.
Graphite One (Alaska) Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, holds the Property and is developing the Project in Alaska.
In December 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey released its Professional Paper 1802 titled “Critical Mineral Resources of the United States— Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply.” The report lists 23 metals and minerals that are critical to “the national economy and national security of the United States.”
Graphite is one of the 23 materials listed and is one of just four metals and minerals on the list for which the U.S. is 100% import dependent. The USGS study was followed by the signing of an Executive Order by President Trump, “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals.” The Executive Order directed the U.S. Secretaries of the Interior and Defense to prepare a list of critical minerals within 60 days, and to develop and report within 6 months a strategy for reducing foreign dependence on those metals and minerals deemed critical.