Alaska Governor Nominates Graphite One Project as High Priority Infrastructure Project

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Graphite One Inc. (GPH: TSX-V; GPHOF: OTCQB) (“Graphite One” or the “Company”) announces that on October 4, 2019, Alaska Governor Michael J. Dunleavy submitted a letter to the President of the United States requesting that the Company’s Graphite Creek Project and associated advanced materials processing facility (the “Project”) be designated a high-priority infrastructure project (“HPIP”) pursuant to Executive Order 13766 of January 24, 2017.

The Graphite Creek deposit, situated about 60 kilometers north of Nome, Alaska, is the largest known natural graphite resource in the United States. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade graphite products primarily for electric vehicle batteries, energy storage systems, and other value-added markets. “Governor Dunleavy’s High-Priority designation request is a strong signal of the strategic importance of a project like Graphite Creek,” said Anthony Huston, GPH CEO. “Joined with our advanced materials processing facility, our project would provide two links in an advanced graphite supply chain at a time when U.S. graphite production is zero.” 

The U.S. Government in December 2017 placed natural graphite on its Critical Minerals List of materials critical to the national economy and national security of the United States. The United States currently has no domestic natural graphite production and is 100% reliant on imports. China produces 70% of the world’s supply.¹ According to the authoritative US Geological Survey report, Critical Mineral Resources of the United States (2017): “Graphite is considered a critical and strategic mineral because of its essential applications in the aerospace and energy sectors (such as refractory and foundry applications in the steel and metal industries and use in high-temperature lubricants, high-strength lightweight composite materials, batteries, modern nuclear reactors, fuel cells, electric motors, and evolving electronic applications that anticipate rapid growth in demand for graphite).”² 

“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 percent import-dependency for this increasingly critical mineral,” said Governor Dunleavy. The full text of the Governor’s nomination letter is available here.

High Priority Infrastructure Projects

The HPIP program was initiated as a means of expediting, in a manner consistent with law, the approval process for projects designated as high priority for the United States by the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. It was instituted with President Donald J. Trump’s signing on January 24, 2017 of Executive Order 13766 - Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High Priority Infrastructure Projects.

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 Coated Spherical Graphite (“CSG”) that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade CSG 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. CSG and other value-added graphite products, would likely be manufactured from the concentrate at the Company’s proposed graphite product 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)

For more information on Graphite One Inc. please visit the Company’s website, www.GraphiteOneInc.com or contact:

Anthony Huston
CEO, President & Director
Tel: (604) 697-2862
Email: AHuston@GraphiteOneInc.com

Investor Relations Contact
1-604-684-6730
GPH@kincommunications.com

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.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements.

Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “proposes”, “expects”, or “is expected”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “projects”, “intends”, “assumes”, “believes”, “indicates” 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”.

Forward-looking information in this release includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the stage and progress of development of the Graphite Creek Project including the ability to actually produce spherical graphite, ultimate further and final results of additional test-work, estimated capital and sustaining costs and the availability of equipment, labour and resources required, the anticipated applications of graphite in high-tech, clean tech, energy storage and national security applications and all other anticipated applications, international demand and ability to transport and enter into such markets, are all forward-looking statements. 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: (i) volatile stock price, (ii) the results of the product development test work may not be indicative of the advancement of the project as anticipated, or at all, (iii) market prices, (iv) exploitation and exploration successes, (v) continuity of mineralization, (vi) uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, (vii) changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, (viii) competition faced in securing experienced personnel, access to adequate infrastructure to support mining, processing, development and exploration activities and continued availability of capital and financing, and (ix) 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.

¹ Page 72, U.S. Geological Survey, 2019, Mineral commodity summaries 2019: U.S. Geological Survey, 200 p., https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/mineral-commodity-summaries

² Page J5, Robinson, G.R., Jr., Hammarstrom, J.M., and Olson, D.W., 2017, Graphite, chap. J of Schulz, K.J., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., Seal, R.R., II, and Bradley, D.C., eds., Critical mineral resources of the United States—Economic and environmental geology and prospects for future supply: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1802, p. J1–J24, https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1802J.

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