On July 10, 2023, Major Drilling USA crews in Alaska received an extra-special visitor, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski. She is a big supporter of drilling partner, Graphite One, and its exploration work in the state.
The Senator visited the Graphite Creek Development drilling site near Nome and received an in-depth tour of operations there. Graphite One is developing it as America’s highest grade and largest known graphite deposits.
Subsequent to the Senator’s visit came news on July 17, 2023, that Graphite One was awarded a $37.5 million U.S. Department of Defense Grant. The purpose of the funding is to study graphite as a battery material “essential for the national defense.”
Major Drilling exploration drilling crews are an integral part of the development of the Graphite Creek resource.
Mike Schaffner, Senior Vice President of Mining for Graphite One, is pleased with the work drilling teams completed at the site. He wrote to Major Drilling USA General Manager Nguyen Do, saying, “I wanted to give your guys at camp a shoutout for doing a great job on the Senator’s visit. You have a first-rate team, and it showed.”
Now mobilized to a new location, two core rigs remain at the project to continue providing core samples to the mining team with a third drill rig added in July.
“We really appreciate the commendation from Mike and Graphite One,” Kevin Slemko, Major Drilling VP US Operations, said. “Our teams work so hard to make every detail come together on a project, so it was a special honor for them to welcome Senator Murkowski to the drill pad to see their expertise in action.”
Major Drilling teams set up one of two new LF90 fly rigs at Graphite Creek.
A Major Drilling rig is in the background of this Graphite One image featuring Senator Murkowski’s support of graphite exploration in Alaska.
Left: Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska visited the Graphite One drilling pad to explain to her social media followers that this graphite exploration project is the best opportunity to produce this critical mineral domestically. To view the full video, click here.
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