NEWS OF THE DAY:
Graphite One Announces Closing of $10.23 Million in Private Placement Offering
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 12, 2021 / Graphite One Inc. (TSXV:GPH)(OTCQX:GPHOF) (“Graphite One” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche of the previously announced brokered private placement financing (“Tranche One Financing”) press released on June 30, 2021 (press release “Graphite One Announces Up to $12 Million Private Placement”) raising gross proceeds of C$7,727,000. In this tranche, 7,727,000 units of the Company (each a “Unit”) were issued at an issue price of C$1.00 per Unit with each Unit consisting of one common share in the capital of the Company (a “Common Share”) and one common share purchase warrant (each a “Warrant”), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire, on payment of C$1.50 to the Company, one common share of the Company, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances, for a period of 12 months from the closing date of the Tranche One Financing.
The Tranche One Financing was conducted pursuant to the terms of an agency agreement entered into between the Company and Canaccord Genuity Corp. (the “Agent”). The Company has paid the Agent a cash fee totaling C$540,890 equal to 7% of the gross proceeds of the Tranche One Financing and issued 540,890 compensation warrants equal to 7% of the number of Units sold under the Tranche One Financing (each a “Compensation Warrant”). Each Compensation Warrant will be exercisable to purchase one Common Share for a period of 12 months from the closing date of the Tranche One Financing at an exercise price of C$1.00, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances.
Concurrently with the Tranche One Financing, Taiga Mining Company, Inc. purchased 2,501,581 Units for gross proceeds of C$2,501,581 (the “Taiga Subscription”). The total gross proceeds raised from the Tranche One Financing and the Taiga Subscription amount to C$10,228,581.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Tranche One Financing and the Taiga Subscription for exploration and development on the Company’s Graphite Creek Property and general working capital and corporate purposes. Completion of the Tranche One Financing is subject to receipt of final applicable regulatory approvals including final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Tranche One Financing and the Taiga Subscription will be subject to a four month hold period ended December 13, 2021.
This media release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.
About Graphite One Inc.
GRAPHITE ONE INC. (TSXV:GPH)(OTCQX:GPHOF) (the “Company”) is a developing advanced graphite materials company. Planning continues on its Graphite One Project (the “Project”), whereby it could become an American producer of high grade Coated Spherical Graphite (“CSG”) integrated with a domestic graphite resource. The Project is proposed as a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high grade CSG primarily for the lithium-ion electric vehicle battery market and energy storage systems as well as other value-added products. As set forth in its Preliminary Economic Assessment, graphite mineralization, mined from the Company’s Graphite Creek Property, would be processed into concentrate at a plant to be located on the Graphite Creek Property situated on the Seward Peninsula about 60 kilometers north of Nome, Alaska. CSG and other value-added graphite products would be manufactured from the concentrate at the Company’s proposed advanced graphite materials manufacturing facility whose location is being investigated. The Company is progressing the Project’s Pre Feasibility Study and intends to make a production decision once a Feasibility Study is completed.
OIL:
Joe Biden Wants OPEC to Drill
The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2021
The White House pleads for more foreign oil. The U.S.? Not so much.
We thought we’d seen everything, but there it was Wednesday morning in black and white on the White House website: Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, imploring the cartel of oil exporting nations to pump more oil. Talk about a political climate change. This is the same Biden Administration that has spent six months doing everything it can to crush U.S. oil production.
“Higher gasoline costs, if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery. The price of crude oil has been higher than it was at the end of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic,” Mr. Sullivan’s statement said. “While OPEC+ recently agreed to production increases, these increases will not fully offset previous production cuts that OPEC+ imposed during the pandemic until well into 2022. At a critical moment in the global recovery, this is simply not enough.”
Someone pass the smelling salts to Tom Steyer, the climate crusader who surely fainted when he heard that one. Oil production is beneficial? Fossil fuels are essential to economic growth? The world needs more petroleum to be burned to release more CO2 into the atmosphere?
Perhaps Mr. Sullivan missed Monday’s U.N. report that the world will soon be as hot as Hades if we keep pumping oil. In a single, brief statement, he managed to contradict President Biden’s entire energy message as a candidate and in office. But as it happens, Mr. Sullivan wasn’t talking out of his hat.
On Wednesday Brian Deese, the White House economic council chief, wrote to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate oil-price fluctuations. This is a hardy perennial whenever White House officials fret that rising gasoline prices are becoming an issue. Blame “anti-competitive” practices. Perhaps Mr. Deese found the letter in a White House file cabinet. This means inflation is showing up as a bigger political problem in the polls than Democrats let on.
Allow us to help. How about asking Congress and your own regulators to take their foot off the neck of U.S. oil and gas drillers? Before the pandemic, the U.S. had become the world’s largest oil producer. Thanks to private innovation, the end of the U.S. oil export ban passed by the GOP Congress in 2015, and President Trump’s deregulation, America has had to import far less foreign oil. The U.S. reduced the strategic leverage of foreign producers such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
But since taking office, the Biden Administration has killed the Keystone XL pipeline to transport oil from Canada and the Bakken Shale to Gulf Coast refiners; canceled oil leasing in Alaska; suspended oil leases on federal land, even after a court ruled the moratorium illegal; increased fuel-mileage standards for cars, which favors electric vehicles; and invoked the Endangered Species Act as part of a strategy to reduce drilling on private land in the West. No doubt we’re missing something.
Someone should ask Mr. Biden, on his next stop for ice cream, why the President thinks oil produced by foreign dictators in Russia, Iran or Saudi Arabia is more desirable than oil drilled by American entrepreneurs.
GAS:
Why the White House’s call to pump more oil is oddly timed
Sam Ro, Axios, August 12, 2021
The White House’s call for OPEC to pump more oil in an effort to contain gasoline prices has experts puzzled.
Why it matters: While consumers would always love to see lower prices at the pump, they aren’t exactly sounding alarms as confidence remains high and spending has surged above pre-pandemic levels.
- The news is also at odds with the administration’s goals for tackling climate change. Days ago, an alarming United Nations report said the connection between human emissions of greenhouse gases and global warming was “unequivocal.”
What they’re saying: The timing of Biden’s move is curious, as demand for oil may cool, especially in China, amid the spread of the Delta variant, Helima Croft, RBC Capital Markets global head of commodity strategy, tells Axios.
- In the U.S., the summer driving season is nearing its end, which means gasoline demand is about to taper off.
- “It’s not like this recovery in oil prices at this exact moment looks that strong,” Croft says.
Flashback: Worries about oil prices were much greater a month ago, Croft notes, when WTI crude prices breached $75 a barrel and seemed to be heading toward $90.
- OPEC+ eventually agreed to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels per day on a monthly basis starting in August, which put an end to crude’s upward momentum.
Zoom out: But gasoline prices have been climbing. According to AAA, the national average price for gasoline is $3.18 a gallon, up from $3.14 a month ago and $2.17 a year ago.
Our thought bubble, per Axios’ Andrew Freedman: While the sitting president is often blamed if gas prices go higher, an Axios Engagious/Schlesinger focus group conducted Tuesday showed that the prices are not yet a top of mind issue.
- None of the 13 voters said the price of gas would motivate them to vote for or against a candidate.
- Focus group participants live in key swing states and voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. While a focus group is not a statistically significant sample like a poll, the responses show how some voters in crucial states are thinking and talking about current events.
What to watch: “The question is how far [the Biden administration is] willing to take this request,” Croft says.
POLITICS:
Census Bureau set to release population data, starting scramble to redraw congressional lines
The Census Bureau is set to release the data used to draw congressional and state legislative district lines Thursday, beginning a nationwide scramble to draw new boundaries in time for next year’s midterm elections.
The data — based on last year’s once-a-decade canvassing — is expected to show that population growth in the United States over the past decade has been driven entirely by minorities. It will detail on the neighborhood level how the racial makeup and voting-age populations have shifted over 10 years.
It is coming more than four months later than usual — after some states’ deadlines to have new maps in place have already passed.
“What we’re expecting with the delay is that a number of states are going to run into issues with deadlines that they have for the redistricting process,” said Adam Podowitz-Thomas, the senior legal strategist for the Princeton Gerrymandering Project and the Princeton Electoral Innovation Lab.
Some states have constitutional or statutory deadlines — set in anticipation that the Census Bureau would deliver the necessary data on time — that are imminent or in some cases have already been missed.
In Colorado, independent panels have already produced draft maps, which they plan to finalize by October 1. Some states, including Iowa and Ohio, have even less time. Many state legislatures will need to hold special sessions this fall focused on redistricting — a task they’d typically handle in the spring during their regular sessions.
Virginia and New Jersey — which hold state legislative elections this November — are proceeding under their existing maps, rather than the new ones that would typically have been in place by now.
In April, Census Bureau officials released data that showed which states would gain and lose seats.
Texas is gaining two House seats, increasing its total to 38 — second only to California’s 52. The third-highest total is Florida, which will add a seat, increasing its House ranks to 28. North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado and Montana are also each gaining a House seat.
Seven states each lost one seat: the traditional battlegrounds Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio and Democratic strongholds California, New York and Illinois, as well as West Virginia.
Thursday’s release will provide the more detailed neighborhood-level data that legislatures and redistricting commissions need to draft maps with precise boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts.
The neighborhood-level data is typically released by April 1. Census officials have blamed the delay on the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the United States in early March of 2020 — a critical time for the census process. Then-President Donald Trump’s administration also fought to exclude noncitizens when splitting seats in Congress between the states.
Outside groups that are tracking states’ redistricting process — gauging the partisan makeup, implications for minority groups and more as maps are proposed — will also face intense pressure amid the condensed redistricting schedule.
“Particularly in the states where they’re going to try to rush the process, it’s on reform groups and advocates to pay attention and really carefully watch over what the legislature’s going to do — being at every public hearing that is held,” Podowitz-Thomas said.
The data the Census Bureau releases Thursday will be what’s called the “legacy version” — a technical version of the data that states and political parties can plug into proprietary software to use to begin drawing maps.
A less-technical version — easier to read and for outside groups and individuals without access to that proprietary software — will come on September 30.
However, a number of organizations this year plan to release versions of the data that would allow individuals and outside groups to measure the makeup of proposed districts more quickly than in previous redistricting cycles.
CLIMATE CHANGE:
California’s clean grid may lean on oil, gas to avoid summer blackouts
Nichola Groom, Reuters, August 11, 2021
California, struggling to balance its clean energy push with the need to boost tight power supplies and avoid rolling blackouts, will lean more on fossil fuels in coming weeks to keep the power on if scorching heatwaves stretch its grid.
The Golden State, which has among the world’s most aggressive environmental policies, faces a potential supply shortfall of up to 3,500 megawatts during peak demand hours in the coming weeks. That is about 2.6 million households’ worth of electricity supply.
Governor Gavin Newsom plans to fill that gap in part by allowing industrial energy users to run on diesel generators and engines, according to a recent emergency proclamation. The state says it is devising a plan to offset additional emissions through investments in air quality improvements.
“We’re getting additional reliability at the cost of additional environmental impacts from emissions,” Seth Hilton, an attorney with Stoel Rives who represents energy companies in regulatory proceedings in California, said in an interview.
California’s predicament demonstrates the challenges electricity grids face by moving away from natural gas and coal power while incorporating large amounts of wind and solar energy that only run when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.
California has a goal of sourcing 60% of its power from renewable sources by 2030. Other governments crafting their own energy policies are watching closely.
Nationally, President Joe Biden aims to decarbonize the entire U.S. power sector by 2035. Utilities have said that goal may not be achievable without big breakthroughs in clean technology.
This year in California, extreme drought has slashed 1,000 MW of hydroelectric power capacity; wildfires threaten transmission lines that bring in power from other states; and a fire at a San Francisco-area gas plant knocked out 300 MW of supply, state agencies said. All this made this year’s supply shortfall worse than the state expected months ago.
Last month, utilities Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric warned the state Public Utilities Commission about delays in several battery projects to store wind and solar energy for peak demand periods. They said supply chain disruptions linked to the coronavirus pandemic delayed the projects that were set to come online Aug. 1.
Company officials would not say how many were delayed or predict when the storage facilities would be ready.
On July 30, Newsom ordered the state to pay large energy users to reduce their draw on the grid during an extreme heatwave by shifting to backup generators. These typically run-on diesel fuel.
The order also allowed ships to use auxiliary engines, often diesel-fired, while berthed at port instead of plugging in to the grid. It eased air quality requirements restricting the amount of fuel natural gas plants can use to generate power.
Newsom’s office said the measures would only be used as a last resort and did not represent a setback to the state’s environmental ambitions.
“The state is expediting progress toward transition of its grid and will continue to focus on development of new clean energy projects,” a spokesperson for the governor said in a statement.
The order directed California’s air quality regulator to draw up a plan by mid-November to mitigate any added emissions through air quality improvements in low-income communities. That could include investments in emissions-free backup generation and technologies that tap electric vehicle batteries to feed the grid, a California Air Resources Board spokesperson said.
Environmental justice activists said the state should be paying low-income households, rather than polluters, to reduce consumption during grid emergencies.
“We could be paying people to set their AC at 85 degrees on a hot day,” Shana Lazerow, legal director for Communities for a Better Environment, said in an interview.