Critical minerals exploration and development company Graphite One has expanded the mineral reserves at its Graphite Creek project in Alaska, with a new feasibility study expected to show a threefold increase in projected production compared to earlier estimates. The company plans to file the full study in April, it said Thursday.

CEO Anthony Huston credited grant support under the Defence Production Act (DPA) for accelerating the feasibility study by 15 months and enabling an expanded drilling programme.

"With grant support under the DPA Title III authorities, Graphite One was able not only to accelerate completion of our feasibility study by 15 months, but also quadrupled our planned drilling programme, producing the results we announce today," Huston said. 

"We will now enter the permitting process with a production rate triple what we projected just over two years ago. The proven and probable mineral reserve tonnage is 317% of the [2022] prefeasibility study (PFS) reserve estimate and the corresponding contained graphite is 296% of the PFS estimate. All of this is based on results from just 1.2 miles of the total 9.5-mile-long geophysical anomaly."

The updated mineral resource and reserve estimate underscores the strategic importance of the project as the US seeks to reduce its reliance on imported graphite, a key material in battery production and other advanced technologies. The feasibility study pit covers only a small portion of the electromagnetic anomaly at Graphite Creek, leaving room for potential further expansion.

Graphite One’s announcement comes amid heightened US government interest in securing domestic critical minerals supply. Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at increasing American mineral production, a move that aligns with the company’s efforts to accelerate permitting.

"With President Trump's new executive order, G1 is working with Congress, the Administration, and federal agencies to accelerate our Graphite One supply chain project through permitting and into production, to end the nation's 100% import dependency for graphite," Huston said. 

"With these new results, Graphite Creek is now triple the size when the US Geological Survey reported just three years ago that Graphite Creek was the largest flake graphite deposit in the US."

The current feasibility study forecasts an average production of 75 026 t/y of advanced graphite products.