GRAPHITE: Graphite One begins new drilling at Alaska's Graphite Creek
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Canada-based Graphite One says it has started its 2021 drilling programme at its Graphite Creek property near Nome, Alaska - the largest graphite deposit in the United States, Kallanish reports.
That drilling began late last month. The company plans to drill about 3,000 metres of high-quality core infill drilling with the goal of expanding the project’s measured and indicated graphitic carbon resources. The company intends to release a pre-feasibility study in fourth quarter 2021. A final feasibility study with the new data will follow.
The Alaska core drilling is intended to in-fill and expand graphite resources at what is the largest-known large flake and highest-grade graphite deposit in the United States. Additional geotechnical drilling is planned for open-pit mine design and to advance the understanding of ground conditions at proposed infrastructure sites. Site visits and field work by the engineering team will also be completed, additional baseline environmental data will be collected and community outreach activities will continue.
The deposit may hold 44 million tonnes of graphite mineralisation at 7% graphitic carbon. The mine could operate for 40 years and produce 60,000 t/year of graphite concentrate at 95% graphitic carbon. That would include 41,850 t/y of EV-battery-grade coated spherical graphite and 13,500 t/y of purified graphite powders. Full production would begin in the sixth year of the project.
The deposit is on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska about 60 kilometres north of Nome, Alaska. A processing plant would be built on the tract. A graphite product manufacturing plant is planned, although its location has yet been determined, says the company with headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The US has no domestic graphite production. China produces 70% of the world’s graphite.
Bob Downing USA