Another round of community meetings regarding Graphite One, Inc’s proposed mine on the Seward Peninsula are back on the calendar, this time hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The military agency is leading permitting for the project, which seeks to extract billions of dollars worth of graphite from a mile-wide span of the Kigluaik Mountains 37 miles north of Nome.
The meetings will take place in Nome, Teller and Brevig Mission between April 13 and 15.
USACE Public Affairs Specialist, John Budnik, said in an email that the meetings are “not a substitute” for government-to-government consultations often held between the federal government and tribes.
“The community feedback will help the USACE-Alaska District team understand the public sentiments about this project for the public-interest review and the environmental assessment under NEPA,” Budnik said.
Graphite One published its 460-page feasibility study in April 2025. The study found the proposed graphite mine was economically viable, and permit applications for the project began shortly after. A Section 404 Clean Water Act permit application, which would allow Graphite One to discharge fill material that would “permanently impact” over 400 acres of aquatic resources, is currently under review by USACE.
According to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by KNOM, 323 comments from individuals and organizations were submitted during a public comment period held by USACE between September and November 2025. The responses, many containing identical requests for comment period extensions and public hearings, were overwhelmingly in opposition to the project. Some spoke in favor of the proposed graphite mine, citing economic opportunities and job creation.
Budnik confirmed state regulators will also be in attendance at the April meetings, along with representatives from Graphite One at the Nome meeting only.
The latest on Graphite One
In March, Graphite One published a 331-page Environmental Evaluation Document. It’s a handbook of sorts for USACE officials reviewing its Section 404 permit application.
“The point of the EED is to really summarize the years of extensive baseline monitoring that we've been doing, whether it be fish, ground and surface water, air quality, all the work that we've been doing over the years,” Graphite One Senior VP of Operations, Kevin Torpy explained.
Torpy joined Graphite One in 2023 and has spent each summer at the remote worksite most conveniently reached by helicopter. In the future, Graphite One envisions building a 17-mile access road through Mosquito Pass, which bisects the Kigluaik Mountains. The road would connect to milepost 30 of the existing Kougarok Road.
According to the EED, the proposed mine site would cover approximately three square miles – nearly six times the area of Nome’s downtown core. Over the life of the mine, an open pit over a mile wide would be dug out of the side of the Kigluaik Mountains. The ore would be processed on site to produce a 95% pure graphite concentrate, then travel to Ohio by truck, boat and train for secondary processing.
The permanent imprint the open pit mine would leave and potential impacts to surrounding water and land has drawn criticism from local communities and environmental groups.
Last June, the project was added to the FAST-41 Covered Projects dashboard. Torpy called the name of the federal program “unfortunate”, as it’s “not intended to accelerate or alter processes.”
“There's been projects where stuff will languish on some regulators desk for months and months with no action for no reason,” Torpy said. “FAST-41’s intent was to do away with that. It's like, here's the work that needs to be done, here's the deadline, and the regulators set the schedule.”
The Graphite Creek project was the first mining project in Alaska to be added to the dashboard. The Donlin Gold project on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta became the second when it was added in October. Two other domestic graphite projects, the Kilbourne Graphite Project in New York and the Coosa Graphite Deposit in Alabama were added in October 2025 and March 2026, respectively.
The FAST-41 dashboard estimates the Graphite Creek project will complete environmental review and permitting by Sept. 29, 2026.
Torpy said much of Graphite One’s initial permitting work has focused on federal applications, with state permits to follow. He said the mine entering operations by the end of the decade is still feasible, should the project earn its required permits.
Economic impact
Graphite One established a partnership with Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) in 2023. It outlined preferential hiring for BSNC shareholders and contracts to BSNC businesses. Two other Alaska Native corporations, Doyon Limited and Aleut, invested in Graphite One last October.
Graphite One’s partnership with BSNC has the potential to grow over the coming years. According to its feasibility study, Graphite One plans to employ 124 workers, creating a need for housing. Torpy said the company envisions building a housing complex on BSNC-owned land north of Nome.
“It's a large package of land that has had some mining on it in the past, permafrost-free, near utilities. It's an obvious place to start those discussions,” Torpy said. “But again, lots of work to be done on that.”
As part of its agreement with BSNC, Graphite One established community project funds for Nome, Brevig Mission and Teller. To date, Torpy said the fund has been used by local governments to purchase essential equipment.
“Large expenditures, small expenditures, as long as it's helping the community we get behind it. They needed new washing machines for the washeteria, so we got them a couple of those,” Torpy said. “Most recently, there was snowmobiles and trailers for their search and rescue group.”
Beyond contracts and wages, the City of Nome stands to rake in $1.6 million in port fees over the mine’s 20-year life span, according to Graphite One Chief Operating Officer Mike Schaffner. The city may also benefit from goods sold in city limits or ordered online through its local and remote seller sales tax, currently set at six percent.
But without a borough, the Norton Sound region lacks a formal way to get a piece of the pie. The Northwest Arctic Borough, based in Kotzebue, receives annual funding from the Red Dog Mine through a negotiated payment in lieu of taxes agreement. A new deal signed in January provides the borough between $17.5 million and $22 million annually over the next six years.
An additional contribution between $4 million and $8 million, based on Red Dog’s gross profit, will be made to a Village Improvement Fund for the borough’s 11 member villages.
Torpy said he was aware of this arrangement, and that Graphite One was “open to having discussions” regarding deals that are “equitable for the impacted communities”.
“I imagine it'll take some time to hash out being sensitive to the communities of Teller and Brevig, who I think often feel Nome gets maybe more than their share,” Torpy explained. “It's a difficult balancing act, you know, communities with very different needs, different populations, different economic opportunities.”
Torpy said Graphite One’s new VP of Community Relations, Lucille Carter, would play an instrumental role in shaping the conversation over community benefits. Carter is originally from Nome and Teller and worked at BSNC for nearly a decade across two separate stints, most recently as SVP of Regional & Shareholder Services.
“I think that bringing me on board, it just demonstrates how Graphite One is putting in good faith efforts to enhance community relations and really provide an opportunity for residents to ask questions, share their concerns, and receive information,” Carter said.
Nome’s public meeting begins April 13 at 5:30 p.m. at Old St. Joe’s Church. The Teller meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Bingo Hall on April 14. The Brevig Mission meeting begins at 3 p.m. in the Multipurpose Building on April 15.
