Name of the Project
Graphite One project.

Location
The mine is located on the Graphite Creek property, on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula, in the US, about 59 km north of Nome.

Client
Graphite One Resources.

Project Description
The Graphite One project comprises the Graphite Creek mine, a mineral processing plant, and a product manufacturing plant.

The Graphite Creek mine contains indicated resources of about 10.3-million tonnes and inferred resources of about 71.2-million tonnes, both at a 6% graphitic carbon (Cg) mining cutoff grade.

The preliminary economic assessment (PEA) envisages a vertically integrated manufacturer of high-grade coated spherical graphite (CSG), with mining and processing facilities near Nome, Alaska, and advanced material processing done at a dedicated graphite product manufacturing facility.

Production of CSG and other graphite speciality materials is projected at 55 350 t/y when full production is reached in Year 6.

Surface mining is proposed using a truck-and-shovel mining operation along several contiguous, en-echelon pits starting at the outcrop and progressing in a downdip direction.

Graphite One has been designed to operate on a 24/7 schedule on a year-round basis. When in full production in Year 6, the mine plan proposes delivering 1.02-million tonnes of graphite mineralised material a year to a nearby mineral processing plant.

The PEA assumes that mining will be performed year-round with owner-operated equipment.

The proposed mineral processing plant, to be located at the Graphite Creek mine when at full production capacity, will receive 1.02-million tonnes a year of graphite mineralisation grading 7% Cg, and extract and recover 60 000 t/y of concentrate grading 95% Cg from the mine.

Graphite recovery during mineral processing is expected to reach 80% under optimised conditions. The single concentrate recovered will be packaged in 1 t super sacks, placed in 20 t shipping containers and trucked to the Port of Nome. The containers will be loaded onto barges during the seasonal shipping window and delivered to the product manufacturing plant.

The proposed plant will receive 60 000 t/y of concentrate grading 95% Cg from the processing plant. Upon arrival, the concentrate will be stored in silos. The concentrate will be pneumatically conveyed to pelletising equipment and then to high-temperature, electric furnaces and purified under an inert atmosphere to at least
99.95% Cg.

Spherical graphite size fractions suitable for lithium-ion batteries will be combined with a coating precursor.

The ‘green’ surface-coated graphite product will be heat-treated in kiln-type furnaces to harden the coating into the final spherical graphite product.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The PEA projects a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $1.04 billion and an internal rate of return of 27%, with a payback of four years.

Value
The capital cost of the project is estimated at $363-million.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Graphite One is expected to commission geotechnical studies to better define assumed technical parameters used in the mining cost estimates.

Following these studies, alternative mining schedules and scenarios will be the subject of a mine plan study to reduce capital and operating costs and optimise the use of resources.

An optimisation study will be commissioned in due course to rationalise the processing plant resources to effect capital and operating cost reductions.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Kin Communication, on behalf of Graphite One Resources, tel +1 604 684 6730 or email GPH@kincommunications.com.