YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A feasibility study commissioned by Graphite One Inc. shows promise for a multibillion-dollar graphite processing plant the company is considering for Weathersfield Township – a project local officials say is critical to the electric vehicle market and national security interests.
The study, prepared by Barr Engineering Co., was completed 15 months ahead of schedule due to a $37.5 million grant awarded to Graphite One in 2023 through the Defense Production Act Title III.
Moreover, the latest report indicates a much larger project than originally envisioned.
“We will now enter the permitting process with a production rate triple what we projected just over two years ago,” Anthony Huston, Graphite One’s CEO, said in a statement.
In March 2024, Graphite One announced plans to invest $435 million to develop a synthetic and natural graphite production facility on land in Weathersfield Township near the proposed Kimberly Clark site. The land was once used as a minerals and munitions depot for the U.S. Department of Defense. The plant would be used to produce anodes – or negatively charged material that is found in batteries and other energy storage devices and employ 175.
The feasibility study, however, recommends the Ohio project be built out in seven phases to align with demand and to reduce capital risks. Once built out, the entire project’s capital investment in Weathersfield would stand at approximately $3.9 billion.
“Hopefully, this announcement means that when they move forward in Weathersfield it may be bigger than what they originally said,” Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said. “Not only is this still looking like a viable project for us, but it is also moving along faster and looking more promising than it did before.”
President Donald Trump in March invoked the Defense Production Act and issued an executive order that the White House said would facilitate domestic mineral production in the United States.
“With President Trump’s Critical Mineral and Alaska executive orders, Graphite One is positioned to be at the leading edge of a domestic critical mineral renaissance that will power transformational applications from energy and transportation to AI and national defense,” Graphite One’s Huston said.
Graphite One intends to develop an open pit graphite mine at Graphite Creek in Nome, Alaska, and begin shipping material from that site to the Ohio processing facility sometime in 2030. Developing the mine to full capacity would require another $1.1 billion in capital costs.
That mine, the company assesses, houses enough material to produce 175,000 metric tons per year, triple the 53,000 tons first projected in a 2022 pre-feasibility study.
The Ohio Plant
The company wants to complete the Weathersfield plant first, and begin operations there by 2028, according to the study. The Ohio plant in the interim would process graphite purchased from other sources into anode material used by lithium battery customers, according to the plan.
“We have the largest graphite deposit in the United States and one of the largest in the world in Alaska,” Coviello said. “They want to use that and manufacture products here.”
The feasibility study projects the Weathersfield plant would produce 48,000 tons of commercial anode active material, or AAM, per year in its first year of operation.
By 2031, the plant is projected to produce a targeted 256,500 tons of graphite and carbon products per year, 169,000 tons of which is AAM, according to the study.
An additional 25,000 tons per year would be purified graphite products, while another 31,000 tons per year of graphite/carbon products, the study said. The non-AAM products would serve the industrial and defense sectors.
The study added that the Weathersfield operation would, at full capacity, require 220 acres and consist of 88 buildings. Permitting, final design and construction of the first 50,000 tons per year of natural graphite capacity is expected to take three years, according to the plan. The modular build-out of the site is expected to take approximately four more years based on funding and demand.
In total, the Alaska mine and Ohio operations amount to an investment of $5.09 billion, the study shows. The study also points out that the after-tax internal rate of return for these projects is estimated at 30%, with a payback period of 7.3 years. The study projects a 20-year lifespan for the Alaska mine.
Rick Stockburger, president and CEO of Brite Energy Innovators, an energy-related incubator based in Warren, said building an American supply chain for graphite mining is critical to the future of the EV industry.
“Over the next several months, I believe the Mahoning Valley is going to realize that the Voltage Valley vision is alive and well,” he said, adding that the region would emerge as the “largest driver of economic development and job creation.”
While developing a domestic supply and talent chain is important to the EV industry – especially with major employers such as Ultium Cells LLC’s battery cell plant in Lordstown – Graphite One’s plans are also critical to national defense, Coviello said.
“Their position in the defense industry also makes them a good fit for our community that is growing its defense sector with new companies such as Ursa Major and the recent creation of the Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace & Defense,” he said.
At least some of the project is expected to be funded by the federal government, the study said.
Trump, in his executive order, for example, directs the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. International Development Agency and other federal agencies to provide funding for mineral-related projects in the United States.
Coviello said he plans to meet with Graphite One’s principals in June during the organization’s annual “fly-in” to Washington, D.C.
“They continue to work with the administration and Congress, and we’ve been out there a couple times with them to continue to push the U.S. government to support this facility,” he said.
Pictured at top: The site of the proposed Graphite One project.