Graphite One's Two-Track Strategy Hits Alaska Headwinds as Ohio Permitting Edges Forward

Alaska graphite mine faces full environmental review and artifact delay; Ohio processing plant gets air permit. Graphite One stock declines 16%.

The contrasting fortunes of Graphite One's dual-fronted project development were on full display this week, with regulatory progress in Ohio offering a thin silver lining to a permitting setback in Alaska that sent the stock tumbling. Shares closed at €0.50 on Friday, marking a 15.97% weekly decline and deepening a 30-day slide of 26.36%. Year-to-date losses stand at 60.16%.

The heaviest blow came from the US Army Corps of Engineers, which has ordered a full Environmental Impact Statement for the Graphite Creek project in Alaska, rather than the simpler environmental assessment it had previously indicated. The decision follows a year of public consultation, during which residents of nearby Brevig Mission and Teller voiced concerns over subsistence resources in the Imuruk Basin. The Corps cited the scale of the proposed mine — millions of tonnes of raw graphite — as justification for the more rigorous review.

Adding further delay, the discovery of indigenous artifacts on the site has triggered a separate review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. That process will run parallel to the environmental study, extending the timeline for Alaska’s permitting.

CEO Anthony Huston still maintains the target of first production by 2029, pointing to the FAST-41 program, which he says should allow completion of the full review within two years of the original application date. Whether that timeline holds depends in part on the company’s ability to mend relations with local communities. After a scheduling misstep in the spring — when Graphite One held a community meeting during a subsistence period — management will return to Brevig Mission on July 28 for another outreach effort.

Hal Shepherd of the Norton Bay Watershed Council welcomed the Corps’ decision as a victory for the tribes. The Bering Straits Native Corporation, which invested directly in Graphite One in 2023, also backs the full review. President Cindy Towarak Massie said the process serves both investor and resident interests.

In Ohio, the picture looked brighter. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has accepted the air permit application for the planned processing plant in Conneaut for technical review. The facility, which will produce synthetic active anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, secured its site in May through a licensing agreement with a Canadian National Railway subsidiary. CEO Mike Schaffner noted the acceptance as a formal step forward, though it does not yet constitute a final approval.

The Ohio plant is slated to start production in the fourth quarter of 2027, with an initial capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year, expandable to 25,000 tonnes. That synthetic anode output is meant to generate early cash flow while Graphite Creek — the largest known graphite deposit in the US — comes online with 175,000 tonnes of concentrate annually over an estimated 20-year mine life.

Market participants took little comfort from the Ohio news. The stock remains 68.65% below its 52-week high of €1.59 set in late January. The 14-day Relative Strength Index has fallen to 28.1, signaling oversold conditions, while annualized 30-day volatility stands at 53.35%, reflecting the sharp swings triggered by the Alaska announcement.

For the weeks ahead, the July 28 community meeting in Brevig Mission will be a key test of whether Graphite One can stabilize permitting momentum. Ohio’s technical review, meanwhile, moves into the detail phase — a necessary but not sufficient condition for the construction go-ahead. With the broader critical minerals sector facing weaker investment and supply-chain concentration warnings from the International Energy Agency, the company’s ability to advance both tracks in parallel will be crucial to restoring investor confidence.