The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - August 6, 2025
The exploration camp at the Graphite Creek mine project, about 40 miles north of Nome, Alaska.
Lucid Motors has entered into an agreement with Graphite One to purchase Alaska graphite for its EVs.
In a major milestone along the path to lessening America's heavy reliance on China for lithium-ion battery materials, Graphite One Inc.'s Graphite Creek mine project in Alaska is scheduled to get through the federal FAST-41 permitting by the end of September 2026.
"As Alaska's first Critical Mineral mining project on the FAST-41 Dashboard, Graphite One is blazing the trail for projects that contribute not only to the American economy but to our national security," said Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who nominated Graphite Creek for FAST-41 permitting in 2019.
Short for Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, FAST-41 is a federal program established in 2015 to accelerate the timeline and increase the transparency of the approval process for large infrastructure projects in the United States.
The "Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production" executive order, signed by President Trump in March, instructs federal agencies to leverage FAST-41 to expedite the permitting and development of next-generation critical mineral projects in the U.S.
"With President Trump's Critical Mineral and Alaska Executive Orders, Graphite One is positioned at the leading edge of a domestic critical mineral renaissance that will power transformational applications from energy and transportation to AI infrastructure and national defense," said Graphite One CEO Anthony Huston.
In early June, the Federal Permitting Improvements Steering Council (FPISC), which oversees FAST-41, accepted Graphite One's Graphite Creek mine project in Alaska into the federal program. This triggered the FAST-41 Coordinated Project Plan process, which gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – the lead federal agency for permitting the Graphite Creek mine – 60 days to coordinate with the other federal agencies and post a Graphite Creek mine permitting pathway on the FAST-41 Dashboard.
"Graphite Creek is critical to achieving President Trump's energy dominance agenda and is exactly the kind of project that can benefit from the transparency and accountability that comes with FAST-41," said FPIC Executive Director Emily Domenech. "Our team worked with federal agencies to develop an efficient and responsible permitting timetable, and we are ready to partner with Graphite One to get this project to construction."
During the two-month coordination period, federal agencies determined that they could come to a decision on the permits needed to build and operate the Graphite Creek mine by Sept. 29, 2026.
The FAST-41 permitting of Graphite Creek comes at a time when China, which currently accounts for approximately 80% of the world's supply of mined graphite and more than 90% of the battery-grade graphite anode products, is restricting how much of this critical mineral it exports.
"As China continues to restrict the United States' supply of critical minerals, it is crucial for Graphite One to advance without delay," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has long championed Graphite Creek as a key to breaking America's dependence on imports for this critical mineral. "This is North America's largest deposit of natural graphite, foundational to any effort to rebuild our domestic supply chains, and we now have a concrete timeline of 13.5 months for federal agencies to bring it through the permitting process."
This stands in sharp contrast to the notoriously long and arduous U.S. mine permitting process that often takes five to seven years to get through.
Lucid Motors has entered into an agreement with Graphite One to purchase Alaska graphite for its EVs.
The Graphite Creek mine project is expected to produce 175,000 metric tons of graphite annually for 20 years. This operation will be the first link in an all-American mine-to-batteries graphite supply chain in the U.S.
The second link will be a processing facility Graphite One is building in Ohio to upgrade the graphite concentrates produced in Alaska to the anode material needed for lithium-ion batteries.
Lucid Motors, which has already agreed to purchase anode materials from Graphite One's Ohio processing plant for the batteries in the award-winning EVs it is manufacturing in Arizona, provides a third link.
Lucid's deal with Graphite One is part of the Silicon Valley-based EV manufacturer's larger initiative to support domestic supplies of minerals and metals needed for its American-made cars.
"Domestic supply chains strengthen manufacturing resilience, fortify sustainable supply chains, and accelerate job growth," said Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO of Lucid Motors.
The 13.5-month timeline established for Graphite Creek indicates that, with a little federal coordination, these domestic critical mineral supply chains can be established much more efficiently under FAST-41.
"Domestic supply chains for critical minerals are cornerstone requirements for domestic production and national security," said Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska). "G1 is blazing a trail for additional efforts of this kind – demonstrating how we can work across governmental jurisdictions to unlock the full potential of Alaska for the benefit of all Americans."
With the federal permitting timeline set, Graphite One is on track to begin delivering Alaska-mined graphite into the all-American supply chain by 2030.
With more than 17 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration, and technology metals.
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