CEO to President Biden: "Projects like Graphite
One's are important in so many ways – from job creation and the
renewable energy transition to technology development and national
security."
25% tariff on Chinese graphite set for 2026
White House meeting follows continued progress on
Ohio advanced graphite materials
production plant and Graphite One's two Department of Defense
grants
VANCOUVER, BC, May 15, 2024
/CNW/ - Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX:
GPHOF) ("Graphite One", "G1" or the "Company"),
announces that CEO and President, Anthony
Huston, was among a select group of company leaders invited
by President Joseph R. Biden to a
White House meeting focused on investment and job creation,
including the strategic Critical Mineral sector. Hours before the
White House event, President Biden signed an Executive Order
establishing a 25% tariff on Chinese imports, including natural
graphite.
The President spoke in the Rose Garden on Tuesday, May 14, 2024; a link to the public
broadcast portion can be found here, and the White House tariff
statement can be found here.
The White House tariff statement noted that "Concentration of
critical minerals mining and refining capacity in China leaves our supply chains vulnerable and
our national security and clean energy goals at risk." Grouping
graphite with the rare earths – both sectors dominated by
China – the White House announced
that "The tariff rate on natural graphite and permanent magnets
will increase from zero to 25% in 2026." The 25% tariff on
Chinese synthetic graphite is currently under an exclusion that
expires at the end of May.
"I was honored to represent everyone at Graphite One in the
meeting with President Biden," said Anthony
Huston. "We appreciate his support for the renewable energy
transition and G1 is excited to continue pushing forward to create
a secure 100% U.S.-based supply chain for natural and synthentic
graphite. The White House meeting underscores that projects like
Graphite One's are important in so many ways – from industrial
investment and job creation to the renewable energy transition,
technology development and national security."
The White House event comes as Graphite One completed the
initial planning sessions early this month at the Ohio site chosen for G1's battery anode active
material production plant, and continues to progress its two
Department of Defense grant projects.
In Ohio, Graphite One senior
management met with project consultants who are expected to assist
with the designing and building of the synthetic graphite plant as
well as with local companies that are expected to supply goods and
services. Consistent with its commitment to hire from the
local communities near the Graphite Creek deposit north of
Nome, Alaska, G1 has made a formal
commitment to prioritize hiring and workforce training in the
Appalachia Ohio region in which G1's advanced graphite materials
manufacturing plant will be located, on the site of the former
Defense Logistics Agency's Warren Depot for strategic
materials. As the core of G1's commitment to community
engagement, the Company is developing project labor agreements with
local Ohio
construction unions and has received letters of support from
more than two dozen Ohio
organizations including universities engaged in technology
development, workforce training, and projects to advance the
build-out of renewable energy infrastructure in disadvantaged
communities. The building of the plant and related employment
opportunities remain subject to financing.
Progress on Graphite One DoD Grants
A week prior to Mr. Huston's participation in the White House
jobs and investment forum, Graphite One senior management took part
in a Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) visit to G1 project partner
Vorbeck Materials' facilities in Maryland. The DLA site visit
took place at the half-way point in the $4.7
million DLA-funded project to develop a graphite and
graphene-based foam fire suppressant as an alternative to incumbent
PFAS fire-suppressant materials, as required by U.S. law.
In its May 2024 project review
session with the DoD project team overseeing Graphite One's
$37.5 million Defense Production Act
Title III grant to accelerate completion of G1's anticipated
National Instrument 43-101 feasibility study (the "FS"),
Graphite One senior management outlined actions related to the 2024
field season at the Graphite Creek deposit north of Nome, Alaska – the natural graphite link in
G1's complete U.S.-based supply chain strategy. Work remains
on schedule to complete the FS as planned by December 2024 subject to financing. "As we near
completion of the FS, we can now say that DoD's support has cut
about two years off of our initial Feasiblity Study timeline," said
Mr. Huston.
Graphite One's Supply Chain Strategy
With the United States
currently 100 percent import dependent for natural and synthetic
graphite, Graphite One is developing a complete U.S.-based,
advanced graphite supply chain solution anchored by the Graphite
Creek deposit, recognized by the US Geological Survey as the
largest graphite deposit in the U.S. "and among the largest in the
world." The Graphite One Project plan includes an advanced
synthetic graphite material and battery anode material
manufacturing plant located in Warren,
Ohio. The plan also includes a recycling facility to reclaim
graphite and the other battery materials, to be co-located at the
Ohio site, the third link in
Graphite One's non-linear circular economy strategy.
About Graphite One Inc.
GRAPHITE ONE INC. continues to develop its Graphite One Project
(the "Project") to become an American producer of high-grade anode
materials that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The
Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine,
process and manufacture anode active materials primarily for the
lithium‐ion electric vehicle battery market. As set forth in the
Company's 2022 Pre-Feasibility Study, graphite mineralization
mined from the Company's Graphite Creek Property, situated on the
Seward Peninsula about 60
kilometers north of Nome, Alaska,
would be processed into concentrate at an adjacent processing
plant. Natural and artificial graphite anode active materials
and other value‐added graphite products would be manufactured from
the concentrate and other materials at the Company's proposed
advanced graphite materials manufacturing facility located in
northeastern Ohio. The Company intends to make a production
decision on the Project upon the completion of a Feasibility
Study.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
"Anthony Huston" (signed)
For more information on Graphite One Inc., please visit the
Company's website, www.GraphiteOneInc.com.
On Twitter @GraphiteOne
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
All statements in this release, other than statements of
historical facts, including those related to the completion of the
anticipated Feasibility Study, future production of graphite and
anode active materials, establishment of a graphite processing
plant and a graphite materials manufacturing plant, establishment
of a battery materials recycling facility, development of foam fire
suppressants, and events or developments that the Company intends,
expects, plans, or proposes are forward-looking statements
Generally, forward‐looking information can be
identified by the use of forward‐looking terminology
such as "proposes", "expects", "is expected", "scheduled",
"estimates", "projects", "plans", "is planning", "intends",
"assumes", "believes", "indicates", "to be" or variations of
trasuch words and phrases that state that certain actions, events
or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken",
"occur" or "be achieved". The Company cautions that there is no
certainty that tests of the Company's material will be successful
or that such tests will result in the development of successful
products. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed
in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable
assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future
performance and actual results or developments may differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and
exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties
related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and
title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in
government policies regarding mining and natural resource
exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital
and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this
forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is
expressed in this press release, and the Company undertakes no
obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking
information, except as required by applicable securities laws. For
more information on the Company, investors should review the
Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at
www.sedarplus.ca.
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SOURCE Graphite One Inc.