Graphite One (TSXV: GPH) has entered into an agreement with US electric car maker Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) to supply anode active materials (AAM) used in batteries for at least five years.
Graphite One CEO Anthony Huston calls this deal “a historic moment” as it is the first synthetic graphite supply agreement between a US graphite developer and a US EV company.
Under the agreement, Graphite One will provide Lucid with 5,000 tonnes of battery-ready anode material per year. The initial term is for five years. Sales are based on an agreed price formula linked to future market pricing.
“Subject to project financing required to build the AAM facility, the supply agreement with Lucid puts Graphite One on the path to produce revenue in 2027,” Huston said in a statement.
“… And that’s just the beginning for Graphite One as we work to meet market demands and create a secure 100% US-based supply chain for natural and synthetic graphite.”
The agreement follows the company’s selection of a site for its proposed AAM facility in March of this year.
The location, a brownfield site in Warren, Ohio, previously used for storage of National Defense Stockpile critical minerals by the US government, is located in the heart of the automobile industry, in an area with ample low-cost electricity produced from renewable energy sources.
The site’s existing power lines are sufficient for Graphite One’s Phase 1 production target of 25,000 tonnes per year of battery-ready anode material, and land is available for follow-on phases to ramp to 100,000 tonnes per year of production.
The lease term is for 50 years, with an option to purchase. Construction of the Phase 1 facility is expected to begin within 36 months, with an estimated cost of $435 million.
The company anticipates that the Ohio facility will manufacture synthetic graphite anode active materials. Production of natural graphite anode active materials will be added as soon as feedstock from its Graphite Creek project near Nome, Alaska, becomes available.
The Graphite Creek project, located on the Seward Peninsula of western Alaska, is the site of the largest graphite deposit in the country as estimated by the US Geological Survey.
According to company estimates, the deposit contains 32.5 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources grading 5.25% Cg (graphitic carbon) for 1.7 million tonnes, and 254.7 million inferred tonnes at 5.11% Cg for 13 million tonnes.
A pre-feasibility study outlined a graphite mine with a 23-year life and a manufacturing plant originally planned in Washington state with a 26-year operating life. The project has an initial capex of $1.1 billion, an after-tax net present value (at 8% discount) of $1.3 billion and an internal rate of return of 22%.
