The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - July 31, 2024
Lucid Motors has struck a deal with Graphite One to purchase graphite for the batteries powering its award-winning EVs.
The Ohio locale of Graphite One's future graphite processing plant provides ready access to highways, rails, and ports.
Silicon Valley-based Lucid Motors is focused on building sustainable, American-made luxury electric vehicles.
A work program currently underway at Graphite Creek is collecting the final information needed to complete a feasibility study for the world-class graphite mine project in western Alaska.
Peter Rawlinson
Anthony Huston
Graphite One Inc. has struck a battery materials supply agreement with California-based electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors that is expected to forge a complete mine-to-EVs graphite supply chain with links in Alaska, Ohio, and Arizona.
Alaska's delegation in Washington, D.C., is hailing this battery materials agreement as a win both for America's 49th State and for building a secure domestic supply chain to support the nation's energy transition.
"I'm pleased that Graphite One and Lucid Motors are partnering to create a domestic supply chain for electric vehicles made in America from materials mined in Alaska," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski. "These companies represent the start and the end of the supply chain, and they have the right vision to help strengthen our economy, our competitiveness, our security, and our commitment to true sustainability."
Peter Rawlinson
Lucid Motors, a Silicon Valley-based company that has drawn accolades and awards for the exceptional performance and range of the four versions of its Lucid Air electric sedan, has entered into an agreement to buy domestically produced synthetic graphite anode material for the batteries powering its electric vehicles from a processing and recycling plant to be built by in Ohio.
"We are committed to accelerating the transition to sustainable vehicles and the development of a robust domestic supply chain ensures the United States, and Lucid, will maintain technology leadership in this global race," said Lucid Motors CEO and Chief Technical Officer Peter Rawlinson. "Through work with partners like Graphite One, we will have access to American-sourced critical raw materials, helping power our award-winning vehicles made with pride in Arizona."
Anthony Huston
This partnership is a key milestone along Graphite One's path to establishing an all-American graphite supply chain that begins at the company's Graphite Creek mine project in western Alaska.
"This is a historic moment for Graphite One, Lucid and North America: the first synthetic graphite supply agreement between a U.S. graphite developer and U.S. EV company," said Graphite One President and CEO Anthony Huston. "G1 is excited to continue pushing forward developing our 100% U.S. domestic supply chain."
Establishing a robust and secure graphite supply chain in the U.S. has become increasingly critical for American automakers, Washington policymakers, and the Pentagon's top brass due to the importance of this battery material to the clean energy transition and China's dominance when it comes to global supplies.
As the primary ingredient in lithium-ion battery anodes, graphite is the single largest ingredient in the batteries powering EVs. As a result, it is estimated that roughly 115 pounds of graphite goes into the battery pack of the average-sized passenger EV, and a full-size electric pickup or SUV often requires up to 500 lb for their batteries.
According to the latest analyst forecasts, global graphite demand is expected to reach 5 to 6 million metric tons by 2030, nearly four times the 1.6 million metric tons mined globally during 2023.
What makes this situation even more concerning is China, which accounted for 77% of all mined graphite and more than 90% of graphite anode materials produced globally in 2023, emplaced state-controlled restrictions on exports of this critical battery material, as well as on gallium and germanium used in computer chip semiconductors.
"We must end America's dangerous dependence on China for critical minerals, which are increasingly necessary for alternative energy sources, advanced batteries, and defense technologies," said Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. "Alaska can and will lead the way in unleashing America's resource potential."
The U.S. Department of Defense shares Sen. Sullivan's concerns. To help accelerate the establishment of a graphite supply chain that is not only needed for EVs but also for military hardware, the Pentagon awarded Graphite One with a $37.5 million grant last year to complete a feasibility study for the company's envisioned all-American graphite supply chain.
Graphite One is currently collecting the final information needed to complete the feasibility study by the end of this year, two years earlier than Graphite One had planned before the backing by the Pentagon.
A work program currently underway at Graphite Creek is collecting the final information needed to complete a feasibility study for the world-class graphite mine project in western Alaska.
The all-American graphite supply chain being advanced by Graphite One will include a mine in Alaska, an advanced anode material (AAM) processing and battery materials recycling facility to be developed at a former national defense critical minerals stockpile site near Warren, Ohio.
"On a historical note, it's great to come full circle, this site also known as the old Warren Depot included graphite in the National Defense Stockpile more than 30 years ago, the last time the U.S. actually mined graphite," said Huston said.
A large and previously industrialized property with ready access to road, rail, barging facilities, and plentiful electricity, the old national defense stockpile site checks off all the boxes for Graphite One.
"Ohio is the perfect home for the second link in our strategy to build a 100% U.S.-based advanced graphite supply chain – from mining to refining to recycling," said Huston.
The Ohio locale of Graphite One's future graphite processing plant provides ready access to highways, rails, and ports.
The first link of this supply chain will be a mine at Graphite Creek, a project in western Alaska that hosts "the largest known flake graphite resource in the USA and ... among the largest in the world," according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
While Graphite One is advancing its Ohio plant and Graphite Creek Mine in parallel, it is expected that the processing facility will be finished ahead of the mine.
This timing, however, is advantageous.
While waiting for natural graphite from its planned mine in Alaska, which will take longer to permit and build, the Ohio plant will produce synthetic graphite anode material for lithium batteries. This will allow Graphite One to begin offering a domestic supply of this critical battery material while the mine is being developed, and the synthetic graphite can be used to augment and enhance the natural graphite delivered from Alaska.
The supply agreement with Lucid, which is manufacturing its award-winning EVs in Arizona, provides a key link to extending Graphite One's envisioned supply chain to EVs and the American consumers that drive them.
"By combining the resources from the new Ohio facility with the natural graphite mined in Alaska for Lucid's cars manufactured in Arizona, we are showcasing the importance of developing critical mineral supply on American soil," said Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce.
"The partnership between Lucid Motors and Graphite One will strengthen our economy, bolster our domestic supply chain of critical minerals, and reduce our reliance on foreign entities for the materials needed to build electric vehicles," added Juan Ciscomani, an Arizona congressman whose district is home to Lucid Motors' AMP-1 EV factory.
For American automakers, Graphite One's proposed Ohio plant and other sources of graphite anode material outside of China are vital to ensuring the EVs they manufacture qualify for up to $7,500 tax credits offered to American buyers under the Inflation Reduction Act.
For an EV to qualify for IRA tax credits, at least half of the materials going into the batteries must be sourced from the U.S. or a trade partner country, and none can be supplied by a company with direct ties to the governments in China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran.
"I have always said that it is best to develop minerals and resources at home instead of relying on international and often adversarial supply lines," said Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola. "I am thrilled that Lucid has partnered with Graphite One to supply graphite for their cars. I hope they will continue to look to Alaska for minerals as we develop a robust and secure domestic supply chain to power our future."
For Lucid, domestically sourcing the graphite and other materials needed to build its American-made EVs goes beyond tax credits.
"At Lucid, we place an exceptionally high priority on efficiency – our cars must make the best possible use of the world's resources. So, every Lucid delivers exceptional range without sacrificing high performance or sublime comfort," according to the Silicon Valley-based company's website.
Silicon Valley-based Lucid Motors is focused on building sustainable, American-made luxury electric vehicles.
This commitment to excellence led to the Lucid Air, a four-door sedan with a range of up to 512 miles and a charging time of as little as 12 minutes, to be awarded the MotorTrend 2022 Car of the Year, World Luxury Car of the Year, and Car and Driver 10 Best.
The technology-driven EV manufacturer is currently expanding its state-of-the-art, vertically integrated factory in Arizona to begin production of Lucid Gravity, a seven-passenger SUV that will boast up to 440 miles of range and more than 800 horsepower.
Lucid has agreed to buy up to 5,000 metric tons of advanced anode material per year from Graphite One for the first five years after the Ohio plant begins producing synthetic graphite.
"Subject to project financing required to build the AAM facility, the supply agreement with Lucid puts G1 on the path to produce revenue in 2027, and that's just the beginning for Graphite One as we work to meet market demands and create a secure 100% U.S.-based supply chain for natural and synthetic graphite for U.S. industry and national security," said Huston.
This includes extending America's energy minerals supply chain to Alaska, a state enriched with 49 out of the 50 minerals critical to America's economy and security.
"Graphite One's partnership with Lucid Motors is a positive step towards opening up opportunities in Alaska to develop our abundant reserves of critical minerals and metals like graphite," said Sullivan.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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