Consistent High Grade Drilling Results to be included in
upcoming Pre-Feasibility Study
VANCOUVER, BC, June 8, 2022
/CNW/ - Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX: GPHOF)
("Graphite One" "G1" or the "Company"), planning a complete
domestic U.S. supply chain for advanced graphite materials, is
pleased to announce drill results from its 2021 field program at
its Graphite Creek Project ("Graphite Creek" or the
"Project"), located in the Kigluaik Mountains on the
Seward Peninsula approximately 37
miles north of Nome, Alaska.
Graphite Creek is currently recognized by the US Geological Survey
as the largest and highest grade graphite resource in the United States1.
The 2021 field program was conducted from July to October 2021 and comprised a total of 2,150
meters This included 8 core holes in the areas of inferred
resources to upgrade them to measured and indicated resources, and
9 geotechnical holes.
The drill results will be included in the upcoming
pre-feasibility study ("PFS"), with details provided
below.
Select Drill Results Include:
- 21GOC060 returned 16.03m of 6.9%
Cg, 18.75m of
5.04% Cg and 28.5m of 5.13% Cg in
three separate intervals starting from 54m downhole.
- 21GOC061 returned 29.15m of 5.83%
Cg including 3m of 11.73% Cg starting from
51m downhole.
- 21GC062 returned 42.4m
of 11.61% Cg from 45m including 15.21m of 22.2% Cg
and 5.81m of 35.78%
Cg.
- 21GC064 returned 53.95m of 5.67% Cg from 77.3m.
- 21GOC68 returned 24.99m of 5.56% Cg from 57.73m, including 5.51m of 9.1% Cg.
_____________________
|
1
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/619e7a34d34eb622f696bdbf
|
Interpretation of Results:
- Drill results continue to show consistent, near surface
high-grade intercepts with numerous holes returning grades greater
than 10% and up to 35.78% graphitic carbon (Cg).
- The deposit remains open downdip, as well as along strike to
the east and west demonstrating potential for Graphite Creek to
become a generational domestic graphite asset.
- The fault boundary to the north was more accurately identified,
extending the mineralized zone in this direction by 50 to 75 meters
down dip.
- Drilling targeted Inferred resources to upgrade to measured and
indicated resource.
![Graphite One Drills Numerous High Grade, Near Surface Intercepts at Graphite Creek Project, Alaska, Including 15.2m of 22.2% Cg (CNW Group/Graphite One Inc.) Graphite One Drills Numerous High Grade, Near Surface Intercepts at Graphite Creek Project, Alaska, Including 15.2m of 22.2% Cg (CNW Group/Graphite One Inc.)](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1835578/Graphite_One_Inc__Graphite_One_Drills_Numerous_High_Grade__Near.jpg)
"Our 2021 drill results continue to demonstrate excellent
continuity with our past exploration programs and should provide
the opportunity to increase the resource and reserve estimates for
the PFS", said Anthony Huston, CEO
of Graphite One. "With our planned mine area of approximately
1 km of the overall 16 km anomaly, our deposit remains open downdip
and along strike to the east and west of the known resource --
demonstrating that Graphite Creek has potential to become a
critical domestic graphite supply for the
United States for a long time to come."
Pre-Feasibility Study Update:
Graphite One will be incorporating these drill results in its
upcoming PFS, which is expected to be filed within 45 days from the
date of this press release. The PFS will update the known mineral
resource, while providing new economic guidance on the Project.
"The PFS will include the results from our 2021 program and
should increase confidence that Graphite Creek is a generational
asset -- a vital graphite resource in the
United States," continued Mr. Huston. The United
States currently has no domestic production and relies 100% on
importing graphite to meet the nation's energy transition
needs.
On January 15, 2021 Graphite One
received notice that the Company's Graphite Creek Project has been
designated a High-Priority Infrastructure Project (HPIP) by the
U.S. Government's Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Committee
(FPISC). The approval is the culmination of a process that began on
October 4, 2019 with Alaska Governor Mike
Dunleavy's nomination of Graphite One's project for
High-Priority Infrastructure Project designation.
"Designating the Graphite Creek Project as a High-Priority
Infrastructure Project will send a strong signal that the U.S.
intends to end the days of our 100% import-dependency for this
increasingly critical mineral," said Alaska Governor Mike
Dunleavy in his nomination letter.
According to the FPISC's notice letter, the FPISC has
"…determined, in consultation with [Office of Management and
Budget] OMB and [Council on Environmental Quality] CEQ, that this
project clearly qualifies under the 'manufacturing' and 'renewable
energy' sectors, among several other sectors."
The Graphite Creek designation came as the Biden Adminstration
highlighted electric vehicles ("EV") and EV infrastructure as
central to green energy policy. According to renewable energy
analyst Simon Moores of the UK's
Benchmarket Minerals Intelligence: "What we expect from the Biden
Administration is to simply make one of their policies to make
gigafactories across the whole country at scale in order to
turbo-charge and protect their biggest automobile companies such as
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) and General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM)." As
Shane Lasley of North of 60 Mining
News reports in regard to the EV and renewable energy sectors,
"Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is not the only automarket vying for graphite
and other battery metals. With every major carmaker adding
electrified models to their lineup, the number of EVs being built
each year is expected to expand from about 2 million this year to
more than 25 million by 2030 and 55 million by 2040."
Highlights of the results are
provided in the following table:
Table 1: Length-Weighted Select Composites from 2021 Drill
Results2
Hole
#
|
Section
|
Azimuth
|
Dip
|
Total Depth
(m)
|
From
(m)
|
To
(m)
|
Width
(m)
|
% Cg
|
21GC060
|
4750
|
124
|
-55
|
150.88
|
54.17
|
70.2
|
16.03
|
6.9
|
|
|
|
|
|
76.45
|
95.2
|
18.75
|
5.04
|
|
|
|
|
|
110.5
|
139
|
28.5
|
5.13
|
21GC061
|
4700
|
184
|
-45
|
164.9
|
51
|
80.15
|
29.15
|
5.83
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
72.5
|
75.5
|
3
|
11.73
|
21GC062
|
4800
|
178
|
-57
|
140.82
|
45.26
|
87.66
|
42.4
|
11.61
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
60.32
|
75.53
|
15.21
|
22.29
|
|
|
|
|
And
|
66.47
|
67.47
|
1
|
56.9
|
|
|
|
|
And
|
61.66
|
67.47
|
5.81
|
35.78
|
21GC063
|
4850
|
145
|
-45
|
152.1
|
48.55
|
86.25
|
37.7
|
4.84
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
63.75
|
69.5
|
5.75
|
7.63
|
|
|
|
|
And
|
74.5
|
76.5
|
2
|
13.11
|
|
|
|
|
|
128.2
|
152.1
|
23.9
|
4.15
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
147.75
|
149.5
|
1.75
|
25.4
|
21GC064
|
4800
|
173
|
-52
|
167.64
|
42.48
|
49.9
|
7.42
|
4.35
|
|
|
|
|
|
55.5
|
60.1
|
4.6
|
6.44
|
|
|
|
|
|
77.3
|
131.25
|
53.95
|
5.67
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
93.5
|
95.5
|
2
|
18.75
|
|
|
|
|
And
|
119.25
|
124
|
4.75
|
10.03
|
21GC065
|
4850
|
147
|
-46
|
167.64
|
78.5
|
130
|
51.5
|
4.87
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
84.33
|
92.3
|
7.97
|
9.37
|
|
|
|
|
|
114
|
115
|
1
|
18.8
|
21GC066
|
160
|
-50
|
4600
|
325.53
|
39.25
|
69.35
|
30.1
|
3.31
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
64.5
|
66.35
|
1.85
|
10.53
|
21GC068
|
144
|
-57
|
4375
|
195.68
|
57.73
|
82.72
|
24.99
|
5.56
|
|
|
|
|
Including:
|
58.19
|
63.7
|
5.51
|
9.1
|
|
|
|
|
|
88.08
|
116.7
|
28.62
|
5.33
|
|
|
|
|
|
156.5
|
160
|
3.5
|
6.9
|
________________________
|
2 Composites
are a minimum of 1 meter length, with a maximum internal dilution
of 1 meter, and a cutoff grade of 3%. Drill orientation is
nominally orthogonal to mineralization; however, drill results may
not be representative of true width of mineralization.
|
Geotechnical Engineering and
Baseline Studies Advanced
The 2021 field program also included engineering and
environmental studies in proposed millsite and tailings/mine rock
management areas, and along the proposed access corridor connecting
to the State-maintained road system on the Seward Peninsula.
The field program also continued environmental baseline studies
across the project area. This work will provide input for
the PFS that is anticipated to be completed by mid-2022 and will
also help guide the 2022 field program and the anticipated
Feasibility Study to follow.
QA/QC Program
Graphite One maintains a rigorous QA/QC program with respect to
the preparation, shipping, analysis and checking of all samples and
data from the property. Quality control for drill programs at the
Company's projects covers the complete chain of custody of samples,
including verification of drill hole locations (collar surveys and
down-hole directional surveys), core handling procedures (logging,
sampling, sample shipping) and analytical-related work, including
duplicate sampling, "check analyses" at other laboratories and the
insertion of standard and blank materials. The QA/QC program also
includes data verification procedures.
Mr. Andrew K. Angel, P. Geo, with
Alaska Earth Sciences, Inc. (AES) provided oversite to the 2021
drilling and sampling program. Mr. Angel is a Qualified Person as
defined under NI 43‐101 and has reviewed and approved the technical
content of this release.
Graphite One's Supply Chain
Strategy
With the United States
currently 100 per cent import dependent for natural graphite,
Graphite One is planning to develop a complete U.S.-based, advanced
graphite supply chain solution anchored by the Graphite Creek
resource near Nome, Alaska.
The Graphite One project plan us anticipated to include an advanced
graphite material and battery anode manufacturing plant expected to
be sited in Washington State
with the development of the Graphite Creek resource. The plan
includes a recycling facility to reclaim graphite and the other
battery materials, to be co-located at the Washington State site, the third link in
Graphite One's circular economy strategy.
As announced on March
7th3, Graphite One's Graphite Creek resource in
Alaska has been cited as the
largest known graphite deposit in the
United States by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in its
updated U.S. Mineral Deposit Database (USMIN).
_____________________
|
3
https://www.graphiteoneinc.com/u-s-government-cites-graphite-ones-graphite-creek-as-the-largest-graphite-deposit-in-the-united-states/
|
The USGS report confirms Alaska Governor Mike
Dunleavy's statement in support of Graphite One's designation as a
U.S. government high-priority infrastructure project, stating,
"Graphite Creek is the largest deposit of graphite in the nation
and would be a superior domestic supply of this critical
mineral.
About Graphite One Inc.
GRAPHITE ONE INC. (GPH: TSX‐V; GPHOF: OTCQB) continues to
develop its Graphite One Project (the "Project"), whereby the
Company could potentially become an American producer of high grade
anode materials that is integrated with a domestic graphite
resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated
enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade anode
materials primarily for the lithium‐ion electric vehicle battery
market. As set forth in the Company's Preliminary Economic
Assessment, potential graphite mineralization mined from the
Company's Graphite Creek Property, is expected to be processed into
concentrate at a graphite processing plant. The proposed processing
plant would be located on the Graphite Creek Property situated on
the Seward Peninsula about 60
kilometers north of Nome,
Alaska. Graphite anodes 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, the location of which is the subject of
further study and analysis. The Company intends to make a
production decision on the Project once a feasibility study is
completed.
On Behalf of the Board of
Directors
"Anthony Huston" (signed)
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
All statements in this release, other than statements of
historical facts, including those related to the timing and
completion of the anticipated Preliminary Feasibility Study, future
production, establishment of a processing plant and a graphite
manufacturing plant, establishment of a battery materials recycling
facility, and events or developments that the Company intends,
expects, plans, or proposes are forward-looking statements
Generally, forward‐looking information can be
identified by the use of forward‐looking terminology
such as "proposes", "expects", "is expected", "scheduled",
"estimates", "projects", "plans", "is planning", "intends",
"assumes", "believes", "indicates", "to be" or variations of such
words and phrases that state that certain actions, events or
results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken",
"occur" or "be achieved". The Company cautions that there is no
certainty that tests of the Company's material will be successful
or that such tests will result in the development of successful
products. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed
in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable
assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future
performance and actual results or developments may differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and
exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties
related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and
title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in
government policies regarding mining and natural resource
exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital
and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this
forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is
expressed in this press release, and the Company undertakes no
obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking
information, except as required by applicable securities laws. For
more information on the Company, investors should review the
Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at
www.sedar.com.
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SOURCE Graphite One Inc.