08:42 AM EST, 01/30/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Graphite One ( GPHOF ) on Thursday said the company was "gratified" as Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy's referenced GPH in his recent State of the State Address, which highlighted the economic and national security implications of Critical Mineral development.

"The Graphite One ( GPHOF ) deposit, the largest in North America, north of Nome, continues to move ahead with support from a Defense Department grant," Governor Dunleavy told Alaska legislators. "Construction could begin in that project by 2027 and the mine could be producing as early as 2029."

GPH's CEO Anthony Huston, in a statement Thursday said: "He [Dunleavy] sees the strategy we are pursuing to break the U.S.'s 100% dependency on foreign-sourced graphite as key to the kind of Critical Mineral projects that will demonstrate Alaska's role as an essential U.S. source of the metals and minerals transforming the 21st Century.

Huston added: "Imports from any foreign source -- from Foreign Entities of Concern, from countries stressed by instability, even from friendly allies -- will not be sufficient to meet growth. The bottom line is that in a world that needs graphite, America needs Graphite One ( GPHOF )."

Shares of the company closed flat at $0.87 on Wednesday on the TSX Venture Exchange.