Mine to Material Manufacturing
Leveraging its vertically-integrated approach from mine to material manufacturing, Graphite One’s intent is to produce high-grade anode material for the lithium-ion Electric Vehicle battery market and Energy Storage Systems, with significant additional production for a range of value-added graphite applications.
Envisioned as a vertically-integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade Coated Spherical Graphite (CSG), the Graphite One Project would increase North American supply of high purity CSG that meets or exceeds current requirements for electric vehicle battery anodes, and other critical applications at a time when demand for graphite is skyrocketing.
The Property
The Graphite Creek Property, located on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska about 60 kilometers north of Nome, has been discovered to hold America’s highest grade large flake graphite deposit, with 10.95 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources at a grade of 7.8% that could yield as much as 850,000 tonnes of contained graphite material.
Overall, an assumed 44 million tonnes of graphite mineralization at 7% contained graphite (Cg) available to be mined from the company’s Graphite Creek Property could support a project life of 40 years, producing 60,000 tonnes per year of graphite concentrate at 95% Cg with an 80% yield.
Mining
An owner-operated, year-long truck and shovel operation with four active mining areas, the Graphite Creek Mine would develop roughly 4 million tonnes of material each year, once full production is reached in Year 6. About 1 million tonnes, at an average graphite mineralization grade of 7%Cg, would be delivered to the Mineral Processing Plant adjacent to the mine.
Mineral Processing
On an annual basis, the Mineral Processing Plant, estimated to operate 330 days each year, would reduce 1,018,000 tonnes of graphite mineralization to 60,000 tonnes of graphite at 95%Cg, using multiple cruisers and flotation circuits, as well as drying equipment. The dried concentrate would be shipped to the Port of Nome, stored and barged seasonally to the Advanced Graphite Materials Manufacturing Plant.
Purification
Purification into CSG and other value-added graphite processing would occur at Graphite One’s proposed Advanced Graphite Materials Manufacturing Facility at a [still to be determined] U.S. location in proximity of a port. The concentrate would be pelletized and thermally purified to least 99.95%Cg in high temperature electric furnaces with a nitrogen atmosphere.
Advanced Graphite Materials Manufacturing
Once purified, the graphite would be air milled and turned into spheroidal shaped particles in 11 spheronizing machines. The resulting spherical graphite is then coated with a carbon pitch and heated in four carbonization furnaces to graphitize the coating.
Yield
At full production, and on an annual basis, the Advanced Graphite Materials Manufacturing Facility is expected to convert 60,000 tonnes of concentrate into 41,850 tonnes of CSG for end uses in EV and lithium-ion batteries as well as Energy Storage Systems. The remaining 13,500 tonnes per year of purified graphite powders will feed a range of other industrial and tech manufacturing supply chains.
Strong Financials
The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) projects a Net Present Value (NPV) for the Project on a pre-tax basis of US$1,037 million using a 10% discount rate, with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 27%.
On a post-tax basis, the NPV is projected at US$616 million using a 10% discount rate, with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 22%.
Key Details And Sources Here.
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As mentioned above, GPHOF has 4 key potential catalysts to focus in on right now. Check them out:
No. 1 GPHOF Potential Catalyst - Company Believes Net Smelter Purchase Will Have Positive Impact On IRR And NPV
Graphite One Enters into Agreement for the Purchase of Net Smelter Production Royalty
CEO Anticipates NSR Purchase "will have positive impact" on IRR and NPV in Feasibility Study
VANCOUVER, BC, June 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX: GPHOF) ("Graphite One" or the "Company"), planning a complete domestic U.S. supply chain for advanced graphite materials, announced that it has entered into an agreement (the "NSR Purchase Agreement") with Ronald C. Sheardown ("Sheardown") to acquire a 1% net smelter production royalty interest against certain claims that are held by the Company (the "NSR") which make up a part of the Company's Graphite Creek Project in Alaska.
Under the terms of the NSR Purchase Agreement, the Company will issue to Sheardown 456,500 common shares of the Company at a price of $1.10 (CA$1.48) per share for total consideration of US$500,000, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. The common shares issued will be subject to resale restrictions. The NSR is applied to future production from 133 Alaska state claims owned or leased by Graphite One.
"This purchase of a 1% NSR brings our total purchases to 3% NSR," said Anthony Huston, founder and CEO of Graphite One. "We anticipate the purchase of the NSR will have a positive impact on our Internal Rate of Return and Net Present Value, which will be reflected in the financial projections in our Feasibility Study."
Two NSRs on the Graphite Creek Property remain outstanding: a 5.0% and a 2.5% NSR applicable to certain Alaska state claims, of which 2% of each NSR can be purchased for a total of US$4 million, leaving a 3.0% and 0.5% NSR on their respective claims.
Graphite One's Supply Chain Strategy
With the United States currently 100 per cent import dependent for natural graphite, Graphite One is planning to develop a complete U.S.-based, advanced graphite supply chain solution anchored by the Graphite Creek resource. The Graphite One project plan includes an advanced graphite material and battery anode manufacturing plant expected to be sited in Washington State integrated with the development of the Graphite Creek Property. The plan includes a recycling facility to reclaim graphite and the other battery materials, to be co-located at the Washington State site, the third link in Graphite One's circular economy strategy.
Read the full article here.
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No. 2 GPHOF Potential Catalyst - Huge Milestone Achieved In Receiving First Active Anode Material Samples
Graphite One Receives First Active Anode Material Samples Produced from Alaska Graphite
Anode Samples sent to major EV manufacturer and to DOE National Lab for independent Testing
Material Exhibits Characteristics Needed for Fast-Charging; Process Achieves High Yield
VANCOUVER, BC, April 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX: GPHOF) ("Graphite One", "G1" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has received the active anode material samples produced from Graphite One's Alaska graphite by Sunrise (Guizhou) New Energy Material Co. Ltd. ("Sunrise"). The sample material and the sample specification data have been provided to the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ("PNNL") for additional testing and sample material has been sent to a leading Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturer for evaluation.
"This is a milestone moment for Graphite One," said Anthony Huston, founder and CEO. "Being able to provide anode material manufactured from our Graphite Creek feedstock – to both a major EV maker and a U.S. National Lab – is a major step in our strategy to build a 100% U.S.,-based advanced graphite supply chain."
The Company previously announced its agreement with Sunrise to produce the samples 1 and, with PNNL, to independently test the Graphite One anode material.2
Sunrise produced two different active anode material samples from Graphite One's Alaska graphite concentrate:
- coated spherical natural graphite
- secondary particle natural graphite
A fast-charging artificial graphite anode material sample was also produced for North American EV battery companies. "Natural secondary particle anode is increasingly important in EVs for fast-charge performance," said Andrew Tan, G1's Vice President for Advanced Graphite Materials.
The natural graphite was purified using the advanced fluorine-free purification process as proposed by Graphite One in its Graphite One Project Preliminary Feasibility Study dated October 13, 2022 (the"PFS"). All three samples were produced in Sunrise's commercial scale anode material manufacturing plant. The specific capacity of the first natural graphite sample was 366.4 mAh/g and the second sample was 364.9 mAh/g – both exceeding 98% OR within 2% of graphite's theoretical maximum of 372 mAh/g. The ratio of graphite concentrate input to spherical graphite output was optimized in the spheroidization process, achieving utilization rates greater than the 75% targets assumed in the PFS. "The yield we are seeing exceeds what our industry peers are reporting," Mr. Tan noted.
Portions of all three samples have been sent to PNNL for independent verification. Two samples have been sent to a leading EV manufacturer, while the sample specification data has been sent to other end-users.
Read the full article here.
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No. 3 GPHOF Potential Catalyst - Results Signal Graphite Creek To Be A "Generational Resource"
2022 Drilling Program Results Increase Graphite One Measured and Indicated Resource by 15.5%
M&I Increase Comes After US Geological Survey Report Identifies Graphite Creek Deposit "as Among the Largest in the World."
VANCOUVER, BC, March 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX: GPHOF) ("Graphite One" or the "Company"), planning a complete domestic U.S. supply chain for advanced graphite materials, is pleased to announce the results of the 2022 drilling program and updated resource estimate, which shows an increase of 15.5% in Measured and Indicated tonnage with a corresponding increase of 13.1% in contained tonnes of graphite. The Measured and Indicated Resources now stand at 37.6 M tonnes at 5.14% graphite, with an Inferred Resource of 243.7 M tonnes at 5.07% graphite.
"We've been very consistent about the potential we see in Graphite Creek," said Anthony Huston, President and CEO of Graphite One. "The recognition by USGS coupled with this increase in our Measured and Indicated Resources and the fact that we have explored only 26% of our graphite anomaly underscores that Graphite Creek is truly a generational resource."
"These strong results from our 2022 program will assist in developing our 2023 drilling plan," said Mike Schaffner, Senior Vice President, Mining, "and the continued expansion of our Graphite Creek resource will support our plan to quadruple the annual production from our PFS study."
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The updated resource did not include Hole 22GC079, drilled 2.1 km west of the current block model, which encountered 58 meters of 4.18% graphite, due to distance constraints used in the block model. The planned 2023 drilling program will target doubling the measured and indicated resources and increasing the inferred resource by infill drilling along trend to Hole 22GC079.
The resource updates from Graphite One's October 2022 Pre-feasibility Study ("PFS") and the 2022 Drilling Program come after the US Geological Survey report that states:
"The Graphite Creek graphite deposit, located in the Kigluaik Mountains 60 km north of Nome on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, is the largest known flake graphite resource in the USA and is among the largest in the world."2
Graphite One's PFS was based on a proven and probable reserve that utilized 7% of the anomaly's strike length. This updated Measured, Indicated and Inferred resource is based on drilling 26% of the surface area of the anomaly. The planned 2023 Drilling Program will continue to delineate the scope and size of the resource, as the Graphite Creek deposit remains open to the West, East, and down dip.
Mr. Rob Retherford, P. Geo, with Alaska Earth Sciences, Inc. provided oversite to the 2022 drilling and sampling program. Mr. Retherford is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43–101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.
Read the full article here.
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No. 4 GPHOF Potential Catalyst - Oversold Leaning Technicals Could Be Signaling A Potential Reversal Nearing
As of close Friday, Barchart was reporting GPHOF to have multiple oversold leaning technicals.
These technicals could be signaling a healthy reversal could be approaching in the near term.
Here's the definition of a "reversal" from Investopedia:
"A reversal is a change in the price direction of an asset. A reversal can occur to the upside or downside. Following an uptrend, a reversal would be to the downside. Following a downtrend, a reversal would be to the upside. Reversals are based on overall price direction and are not typically based on one or two periods/bars on a chart."
Now, here are some key technicals (as of close Friday) that could signal GPHOF to be leaning oversold and on the verge of a potential reversal.
- 9-Day Relative Strength Index: 34.87%
- 14-Day Relative Strength Index: 38.28%
When these numbers drop down to the 30% range and lower, they can be viewed as being in oversold territory. While in this territory, they can paint the picture of a profile that is undervalued.
- 14-Day Raw Stochastic: 27.15%
- 14-Day Williams %R: 72.85%
As the Raw Stochastic nears the 10% range and lower and the Williams %R nears the 90% range or higher, these technical indicators may also be viewed as oversold and undervalued.
Keep an eye on these technicals closely.
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GPHOF Recap: The Top 4 Potential Breakout Catalyst To Know Right Now
No. 1 - Company Believes Net Smelter Purchase Will Have Positive Impact On IRR And NPV
No. 2 - Huge Milestone Achieved In Receiving First Active Anode Material Samples
No. 3 - Results Signal Graphite Creek To Be A "Generational Resource"
No. 4 - Oversold Leaning Technicals Could Be Signaling A Potential Reversal Nearing
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Coverage is officially initiated on GPHOF. When time permits, do this:
