Graphite One’s Alaska Ambition Confronts Local Skepticism and a Fizzled Trade Battle

Graphite One's bid for a domestic graphite anode supply chain suffers after ITC denies tariffs; now faces Alaska community backlash and tight FAST-41 permitting deadlines.

Graphite One entered 2025 hoping a U.S. trade complaint would erect a tariff wall against Chinese graphite anode imports, shielding its own plans for a domestic supply chain. But that pillar collapsed in March when the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Chinese graphite anodes do not cause “material injury” to American producers. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties, which the Commerce Department had initially pegged at over 150 percent for some imports, will not take effect.

The decision leaves Graphite One’s business case exposed to the same cost pressure that has long stifled domestic graphite processing — Beijing controls more than 90 percent of the world’s anode supply chain. The company had counted on trade protection as a strategic cushion while it races to build a mine in Alaska and a processing plant in Ohio.

If the ITC ruling was a blow from Washington, the company now faces a separate front in rural Alaska. Graphite Creek, the company’s flagship deposit in the Kigluaik Mountains, is slated for an open-pit mine about 1.1 miles long, a processing plant and water treatment facilities across more than 1,176 acres. But local pushback is intensifying as the permitting clock accelerates.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently concluded hearings on a Section 404 permit under the Clean Water Act, receiving 301 public comments. Nearly 57 percent raised concerns, while more than 26 percent explicitly opposed the project. Only 16.6 percent voiced support. Critics point to potential dust pollution, disruption of subsistence hunting grounds and what they describe as incomplete environmental studies. The project’s footprint — including a roughly 28-kilometre access road planned to start this summer — has amplified worries.

Graphite One is operating under the federal FAST-41 program, designed to fast-track permitting for critical-mineral projects. Graphite Creek was the first mining project from Alaska to enter the program, landing in June 2025. The timeline is tight: the company needs to secure all federal permits by September 29, 2026, to keep a 2027 construction start in Alaska within reach. But the regulatory field is getting more crowded. Two competing U.S. graphite projects — one in Alabama and another in New York — also secured FAST-41 status this spring, raising the stakes for which developer reaches production first.

The current environmental review is a relatively streamlined Environmental Assessment, but opponents are pressing regulators to require a full Environmental Impact Statement, which would demand more time and resources exactly when Graphite One can least afford delays. A switch to the heavier review would jeopardize the FAST-41 deadline.

On the downstream side, the company’s strategy centers on a modular plant in Ohio that would process Alaskan graphite concentrate — targeting 95 percent purity at the mine — into battery-grade anode material. First production of 48,000 tonnes per year is slated for 2028, with a ramp to 169,000 tonnes by 2031. Graphite One says that final volume would be enough for more than two million mid-sized electric vehicles. It holds non-binding offtake letters, including one with Lucid Motors, for both synthetic and natural graphite anodes. The company also aims to bring the Ohio facility into the FAST-41 process.

Financing is partly lined up but not fully closed. The U.S. Export-Import Bank has issued non-binding letters of interest totaling $2.07 billion — $670 million for the Alaska mine and $1.4 billion for the Ohio anode plant — covering roughly 70 percent of projected costs. For the remainder, management says it is in talks with five North American investment banks. In February, the company raised gross proceeds of C$35 million through a public offering.

The market has not been forgiving. Graphite One’s shares trade in Frankfurt at €0.73, down about 38 percent year to date and nearly eight percent below the 50-day moving average, despite a slight uptick in recent daily movement.

What happens between now and late September 2026 will determine whether Graphite One can convert the FAST-41 fast track into a genuine time advantage. A drawn-out environmental review would strain the schedule; a smooth process would keep the Alaska mine start and the Ohio downstream plan on track. Without tariff protection, and with new domestic rivals closing in, the margin for error is shrinking fast.