Graphite One Navigates Local Resistance in Alaska as Anode Customer Tests and $2 Billion EXIM Loan Move Forward

Graphite One shares fall 40% in 2025 as community pushback against Graphite Creek mine grows, despite drilling plans, customer tests, and $2B EXIM loan backing.

Shares of Graphite One have shed roughly 40% of their value since the start of the year, trading near €0.70 as the company juggles operational milestones with mounting community pushback against its flagship Graphite Creek project in Alaska. The stock remains well below its 52-week high of €1.59, with the downtrend still intact despite a flurry of positive developments on the corporate front.

In early June, management held a public meeting in Nome to present the project to local residents, drawing about 30 attendees. But opposition is hardening in nearby communities such as Brevig Mission and Teller, where residents object to the mine’s proximity to vital subsistence areas. Graphite One Alaska officials have countered with regular engagement sessions, yet the rift underscores the challenge of building a domestic graphite supply chain from scratch.

Meanwhile, the technical work proceeds. A new drilling campaign is set to begin at Graphite Creek in mid-June, focused on gathering geotechnical data for the planned access road. Those preparations follow extensive consultations with Indigenous representatives in the region. The project is being processed under the US government’s FAST-41 accelerated permitting program, with a final federal decision scheduled for the end of September 2026.

Downstream, the company has shipped commercial-grade anode material samples to six potential customers — three major electric-vehicle manufacturers and three battery producers. The current specification tests are a prerequisite for any binding offtake agreements. Production would take place at a new facility in Conneaut, Ohio, where Graphite One secured a site in May that offers direct access to Lake Erie and rail connections. The first phase of the plant is designed for an annual capacity of 10,000 tonnes and is slated for completion in the fourth quarter of 2027.

On the financing side, the US Export-Import Bank has issued a letter of intent for loans totaling up to $2 billion, which could cover roughly 70% of the capital needed for both the mine and the processing plant. The Defense Department previously supported the feasibility study with about $38 million. Yet without the raw material from Graphite Creek, the Ohio factory would lack its fundamental feedstock — making the resolution of local opposition a critical path item.

The upcoming annual general meeting on June 26 will see shareholders vote on the management compensation program. But the market’s focus is likely to remain on the customer test results. Until those trials yield contractual commitments, the stock appears trapped in a waiting game, caught between strategic promise and on-the-ground friction.