Westwater Resources has filed a federal water quality permit for its Coosa Graphite Project in Alabama - the largest natural flake graphite deposit in the contiguous United States. The filing is one step in a multi-year permitting process, but it arrives inside a supply chain window that is getting narrower.
On March 2, 2026, Westwater Resources filed a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit application with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for its Coosa Graphite Project in Coosa County — the largest natural flake graphite deposit in the contiguous United States, covering 41,965 acres. An NPDES filing is an administrative milestone, not a production announcement. But the context around it matters.
China controls 95% of global battery-grade graphite supply, according to Stanford University's STEER initiative. US tariffs on Chinese imports now reach 160%. The largest natural graphite deposit in the contiguous US is in Alabama — and it is still years from production.
Every lithium-ion battery — in EVs, grid storage, electronics, and defense — requires a graphite anode, and each EV battery contains between 50 and 100 kilograms of it. The IEA designated graphite one of the materials 'most exposed to potential supply risks' in its May 2025 Critical Minerals Market Review. In 2024, the US imported roughly 180,000 metric tons of graphite products, about 120,000 metric tons of which came directly from China.
US policy has responded. In July 2025, the Department of Commerce set a preliminary anti-dumping tariff of 93.5% on Chinese battery graphite, bringing the combined effective rate to approximately 160%. China imposed its own export licensing requirements, then suspended the stricter measures through November 27, 2026 — a defined expiration date after which controls could tighten again. For procurement teams, that date marks the end of the current window of relative supply stability.Westwater's strategy is vertical integration: mine natural graphite at Coosa, process it at the Kellyton Graphite Processing Plant currently under construction in east-central Alabama, and supply battery-grade material to US manufacturers without routing through Chinese processing infrastructure. The NPDES permit — required under the Clean Water Act for regulated discharge of treated stormwater and mining-related water — is one step in a multi-year permitting sequence before mining can begin.
Despite more than $10 billion in announced US graphite investments, Stanford's STEER initiative reported in July 2025 that none have reached production at scale. Domestic manufacturing costs run more than twice Chinese import prices, and producer qualification timelines add years. Coosa is not a near-term supply solution. It is evidence that one of the few credible domestic alternatives is continuing to advance — one permit at a time.
