JUNEAU – Senator Donny Olson (D-Golovin) introduced legislation yesterday, Senate Bill 203, allowing the Alaska Industrial Development Export Authority (AIDEA) to issue bonds to finance infrastructure and construction costs of the Graphite Creek graphite project. In a preliminary economic assessment, the proposed processing plant at Graphite Creek would produce 60,000 metric tons of graphite concentrates per year. These concentrates would be shipped to an advanced material processing facility annually producing 42,000 metric tons of coated spherical graphite and almost 14,000 metric tons of purified graphite powders.

“The Seward Peninsula Kigluaik Mountains’ has a significant graphite surface deposit that can lend a positive impact on the local economy,” said Sen. Olson. “This is an opportunity to meet those economic needs, create more jobs in rural Alaska, and supply the United States with a local source of graphite.”

In 2016, the United States demanded 39,500 metric tons of imported graphite. Tesla’s lithium battery Gigafactory, located in Nevada, is scheduled for production in late 2018 or early 2019, which will require 93,000 tons per year of flake graphite to produce lithium-ion batteries for their vehicles.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]Senate Bill 203 was referred to the Community & Regional Affairs and Finance committees.

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