GRAPHITE AS A CRITICAL ELEMENT USA

Graphite as a Critical Mineral The U.S. Government in 2018 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 with China producing 70% of the world’s supply.5 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).”6 The World Bank’s Climate-Smart Mining Initiative includes graphite among its clean-tech, green-tech materials, projecting global graphite demand to rise 494% between 2020 and 2050. According to the USGS, “Graphite’s use in rechargeable batteries, as well as technologies under development (such as large-scale fuel-cell applications), could consume as much graphite as all 2 https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/biden-should-tap-usdoe-program-to-jump-start-ev-supply-chain-8211-analyst-62120297 3 https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/story/2020/12/31/critical-minerals-alaska-2020/ev-sector-drives-massivegraphite-demand/6489.html 4 https://www.graphiteoneinc.com/projects/graphite-one-project-pea/overview/ 5 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 6 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. WWW.GRAPHITEONEINC.COM GPH: TSX-V GPHOF: OTCQB other uses combined.”7 As a result, projects like Graphite One’s Graphite Creek will provide essential supply chain infrastructure for the United States’ green tech/clean tech sectors.