Domestic battery material developers Graphite One, Lucid, and others announce strategic partnership, prioritizing the use of American-sourced critical minerals in the national automotive supply chain.
In a significant move towards strengthening the North American domestic supply chain for critical minerals and metals, particularly for use in automotive manufacturing, the Minerals for National Automotive Competitiveness (MINAC) collaborative initiative was officially launched on July 23, 2025.
The founding members of MINAC include Alaska Energy Metals Corporation (AEMC), Graphite One Inc., Electric Metals USA Inc., RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc., and Lucid Group, Inc. Each member brings unique expertise to the table, with Graphite One Inc. focusing on the production of natural and synthetic graphite, Lucid Group as a leading electric vehicle manufacturer, and RecycLiCo known for its advanced hydrometallurgical process for recovering high-purity, battery-ready materials.
Graphite One Inc., listed on the TSXV (GPH) and OTCQX (GPHOF), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Lucid Group, Inc. This partnership aligns with Graphite One's listing of Graphite Creek as Alaska's first mining project on the FAST-41 Federal Permitting Dashboard. The Graphite Creek deposit, recognized by the US Geological Survey as the largest graphite deposit in the U.S. and among the largest in the world, anchors Graphite One's advanced graphite supply chain solution.
The Graphite One Project's strategic collaboration with Lucid is part of a broader initiative to promote domestic critical minerals in the U.S. automotive supply chain. The partnership involves supply chain offtake agreements for both synthetic and natural graphite. The project also includes a recycling facility to reclaim graphite and other battery materials, co-located at the Ohio site.
The Graphite One Project's manufacturing plant and recycling facility are key components of Graphite One's strategy to reduce U.S. over-reliance on foreign supplies of critical minerals within the automotive supply chain. This aligns with the White House Executive Orders on Critical Minerals.
The launch event featured a roundtable discussion and remarks by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, Alaska Representative Nick Begich, and Arizona Representative Andy Biggs. MINAC was formally launched during a Capitol Hill event in Washington, D.C.
The MINAC U.S. battery materials collaborative aims to promote domestic mineral resource utilization by securing offtake agreements, accelerating commercialization, improving coordination between the mining and automotive sectors, and supporting the procurement of domestic materials. The collaborative's circular economy strategy includes three links: mining, manufacturing, and recycling.
The formation of MINAC is a significant step towards ensuring a robust and sustainable domestic supply chain for critical minerals, bolstering the competitiveness of the North American automotive industry.
- The North American automotive industry's competitiveness is being bolstered through the formation of MINAC, a collaborative initiative focused on strengthening the domestic supply chain for critical minerals and metals, particularly those used in automotive manufacturing.
- Graphite One Inc., listed on the TSXV (GPH) and OTCQX (GPHOF), plays a significant role in this initiative, given its focus on the production of natural and synthetic graphite and its partnership with Lucid Group, a leading electric vehicle manufacturer.
- The Graphite One Project's strategic collaboration with Lucid is part of a broader initiative to promote domestic critical minerals in the U.S. automotive supply chain, involving supply chain offtake agreements for both synthetic and natural graphite, and a recycling facility to reclaim graphite and other battery materials.
- The launched MINAC, which includes Alaska Energy Metals Corporation (AEMC), Graphite One Inc., Electric Metals USA Inc., RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc., and Lucid Group, Inc., aims to promote domestic mineral resource utilization by securing offtake agreements, accelerating commercialization, improving coordination between the mining and automotive sectors, and supporting the procurement of domestic materials.
- This collaborative's circular economy strategy includes three links: mining, manufacturing, and recycling, reflecting a commitment to reducing U.S. over-reliance on foreign supplies of critical minerals within the automotive supply chain.
- The formation of MINAC is in line with White House Executive Orders on Critical Minerals and follows the general trend of increasing focus on policy-and-legislation and politics surrounding war-and-conflicts, finance, energy, transportation, automotive, real-estate, business, technology, and general-news.
