Refined name reflects wider graphite focus

Graphite One Resources Inc. March 13 announced that it has received requisite approvals to change its name to Graphite One Inc. and consolidate its shares on a 10-to-1 basis.

While developing Graphite Creek property in western Alaska is still a part of Graphite One's plans, the new name reflects Graphite One's transition to a technology and advanced materials manufacturing company that refines graphite mined at Graphite Creek into the materials needed for lithium-ion batteries and other uses.

For battery manufacturers in the United States, this growing strain on supply is further complicated by the fact that no graphite is mined domestically.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Managing Director Simon Moores told U.S. legislators that America is not doing enough to secure reliable sources of graphite and other materials that go into lithium-ion batteries.

"We are in the midst of a global battery arms race in which the U.S. is presently a bystander," the global battery materials authority inked in a February testimony to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Graphite One has plans to establish a graphite mine in Alaska and build a domestic processing facility that would refine this graphitic carbon into the anode materials needed by battery makers.

TRU Group Inc. – a technology metals consultant with expertise along the entire graphite-graphene supply chain – has identified unique characteristics of the material at Graphite Creek that makes it particularly well suited for being transformed into the coated spherical graphite used as anode material in the lithium-ion batteries.

Graphite One and TRU coined the acronym STAX for the distinguishing spheroidal, thin, aggregate and expanded graphite in the Graphite Creek deposit.

A preliminary economic assessment completed in 2017 outlines plans for a mine at Graphite Creek that produces 60,000 metric tons of graphite per year. The concentrate from this operation would be shipped to an advanced material processing facility that is anticipated to refine these concentrates into 41,850 metric tons of coated spherical graphite and 13,500 metric tons of purified graphite powders annually.

Graphite One would prefer to build this processing facility in Alaska but is also looking at locations in Washington, due to the lower cost power in the Pacific Northwest state.

In preparation to advancing this project toward permitting and development, Graphite One has changed its name, consolidated shares and issued shares to pay off a loan to Taiga Mining Company, the largest shareholder of Graphite One.

It is expected that the share consolidation will reduce the number of outstanding common shares from 326.12 million to approximately 32.61 million.

Prior to this consolidation, Graphite One is issuing Taiga Mining 13.3 million shares at C5 cents per share to pay back a loan. With the shares already held by Taiga, this conversion of debt will result in the Alaska-based mining company holding roughly 76 million preconsolidated shares, or about 22.4 percent of the Graphite One shares. Taiga could also increase this ownership through the 1 million share purchase options it holds.

Graphite One shareholders voted in favor of these changes in February and the TSX Venture Exchange approved the name change and share consolidation on March 12.

Graphite One will continue to trade under the symbol GPH on TSX Venture Exchange.

–SHANE LASLEY