Graphite One Engages Ames National Laboratory to Assess Rare Earth Recoveries from Alaska's Graphite Creek Deposit
Three-month project with the Department of Energy Strategic Special Program will evaluate leaching, heavy and light rare earth separation, and a preliminary scalable process flowsheet
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 10, 2026 /CNW/ -- Graphite One Inc. (TSXV: GPH) (OTCQX: GPHOF) ("Graphite One," "G1" or the "Company") today announced a research program with Ames National Laboratory ("Ames Lab") to assess and optimize a sustainable process for recovering rare earth elements ("REEs") from garnet material from the Company's Graphite Creek deposit near Nome, Alaska.
The work, conducted under a Strategic Partnership Project Agreement, will examine garnet preparation and characterization, acid leaching, separation of heavy rare earth elements ("HREEs") from light rare earth elements ("LREEs"), and product purification. Funded by G1. the program is intended to develop a preliminary scalable flowsheet and evaluate its mass balance, reagent use, water consumption and waste generation. The three-month project will commence immediately.
"Graphite Creek's garnets host rare earth elements, including the heavy rare earths and magnet metals that are critical to U.S. technology and the Defense Industrial Base," said Anthony Huston, President and CEO of Graphite One. "Partnering with Ames National Laboratory, the Department of Energy's premier rare earths research institution with more than 75 years of expertise, gives us a rigorous, independent path to assess their recovery potential. Our objective is clear: to determine how much additional value these rare earths can add to what is already the largest natural graphite deposit in the United States."
Ames Lab G1 REE Work Plan
The Ames Lab program will begin with mineralogical and chemical characterization of the Graphite Creek garnet material, comminution and mechano-chemical activation, followed by preliminary acid-leaching tests. Subsequent work will optimize leaching conditions and screen separation approaches, including solvent extraction, stepwise pH adjustment and fractional crystallization. The final phase will assess precipitation and purification of REE group products and prepare an integrated flowsheet and mass balance.
Graphite Creek REE Potential
The Ames Lab program follows earlier work conducted in 2025 by Graphite One in which garnet grains were mechanically separated from crushed Graphite Creek drill-core samples at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and analyzed for REE concentrations by Activation Laboratories ("ACTLabs").
ACTLabs found that 85% of the REEs in the tested garnet material were magnet or heavy rare earths. The analysis reported dysprosium concentrations of 32–63 ppm, yttrium of 198–427 ppm and scandium of 84–141 ppm. Graphite Creek garnets appeared to host much of the HREEs, scandium and yttrium; the separated garnet fraction showed two to six times higher REE concentrations than the remaining material.
Graphite One's U.S. Supply Chain Strategy
Graphite One is advancing a vertically integrated domestic graphite strategy designed to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign-sourced graphite and establish an American supply chain extending from raw material through advanced materials manufacturing.
The Company's strategy includes:
- Mining and processing natural graphite at Graphite Creek, Alaska
- Transporting graphite materials through the Port of Nome
- Manufacturing advanced graphite and anode materials in Ohio
- Potential co-located recycling of graphite and other battery materials
This integrated approach is designed to establish a domestic supply chain spanning resource development, advanced materials manufacturing and potential recycling – supporting the development of a circular U.S. graphite materials economy and continues to remain subject to project financing.
About Ames National Laboratory
Ames National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Its research includes work on materials and technologies relevant to Critical Minerals supply chains.
About U.S. Department of Energy's Strategic Partnership Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy's ("DOE") Strategic Partnership Projects ("SPPs") enable eligible DOE facilities to apply their specialized expertise, facilities, equipment, and services to work for other federal agencies and non-federal sponsors. SPPs span a broad range of scientific, technical, and engineering fields, including advanced materials, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, microelectronics, modeling and simulation, quantum computing, sensors, and safety and risk analysis. Projects can give sponsors access to capabilities that may not be readily available elsewhere, while creating opportunities for research, development, and technology advancement.
About Graphite One Inc.
GRAPHITE ONE INC. continues to develop its Graphite One Project (the "Project"), with the goal of becoming an American producer of high-grade anode materials that is integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine and process natural graphite and to manufacture synthetic and natural graphite anode active materials primarily for the lithium-ion electric vehicle battery and energy storage markets.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
"Anthony Huston" (signed)
For more information on Graphite One Inc., please visit the Company's website, www.GraphiteOneInc.com
On X @GraphiteOne
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, including those related to the conduct and results of the research program with Ames Lab, the quantity and quality of and ability to economically extract the rare earth elements from the deposit, timing and completion of permitting, future production, establishment of a processing plant and a graphite manufacturing plant, establishment of a battery materials recycling facility, and events or developments that the Company intends, expects, plans, or proposes are forward-looking statements Generally, forward‐looking information can be identified by the use of forward‐looking terminology such as "proposes", "expects", "is expected", "scheduled", "estimates", "projects", "plans", "is planning", "intends", "assumes", "believes", "indicates", "to be" or variations of such words and phrases that state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". The Company cautions that there is no certainty that rare earth elements will be extracted from the Project, that rare earth elements extracted will be economically feasible, that either the processing plant and graphite manufacturing plant or the battery materials recycling facility will ever be built, the tests of the Company's material will be successful or that such tests will result in the development of successful products. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and title and delays due to third party opposition, changes in government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities laws. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at http://www.sedarplus.ca.
SOURCE Graphite One Inc.
Anthony Huston, CEO, President & Director, Tel: (604) 889-4251, Email: [email protected]; Investor Relations Contact: Tel: (604) 684-6730, Email: [email protected]
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