The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) for Industrial Base Policy (IBP), through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office, will award Graphite One (Alaska) $37.5 millon to support the development of a domestic advanced graphite supply chain solution anchored by the company’s Graphite Creek resource.

The agreement is entered into under Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III authorities and using funds appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The DoD grant to Graphite One follows the designation of graphite as one of the battery materials deemed under the DPA law to be “essential to the national defense.” At present, the US is 100% import-dependent for graphite, with China being the world’s leading producer.

The Graphite One project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture anode 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 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 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 expected to be located in Washington State. The company intends to make a production decision on the project upon the completion of a Feasibility Study.

Graphite One’s strategy also includes plans for a recycling facility to reclaim graphite and other battery materials, to be co-located at the advanced materials manufacturing site; the third link in Graphite One’s circular economy strategy.

DPA Title III funding will allow Graphite One to fast-track its feasibility study by a full year, informing and expediting decisions to move the project further through their plans for a complete US-based graphite anode supply chain.

The agreement with Graphite One (Alaska) advances the Defense Department’s strategy for minerals and materials related to large-capacity batteries.

—Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, ASD (IBP)

Industrial Base Policy is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment for developing Department of Defense policies for the maintenance of the United States defense industrial base (DIB), executing small business programs and policy, and conduction geo-economic analysis and assessments.

The office also provides the USD (A&S) with recommendations on budget matters related to the DIB, anticipates and closes gaps in manufacturing capabilities for defense systems, and assesses impacts related to mergers, acquisition, and divestitures. IBP monitors and assesses the impact of foreign investments in the United States and executes authorities under sections 2501 and 2505 U.S.C. Title 10.