The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Critical Minerals Alliances - August 7, 2025
Antimony is a metalloid critical to America's military readiness and economy.
Samples with as much as 56.7% antimony were collected during the 2024 program at Nova Minerals' Estelle project.
US Antimony's smelter in Montana will upgrade ore concentrates from Alaska, Idaho, and other domestic sources into refined products for ammunition, batteries, semiconductors, and other products.
The historic Yellow Pine mine on what is now Perpetua Resources' Stibnite Gold project supplies strategic metals that are credited with saving the lives of one million American soldiers during World War II.
Workers collect water samples as part of the remediation of historical mining impacts that Perpetua is carrying out in conjunction with developing a modern gold-antimony mine at its Stibnite Gold project.
A bit of Pentagon foresight, a World War II-era mine in Idaho, a small refinery in Montana, high-grade deposits in Alaska, a fair amount of federal backing, and American ingenuity are coming together to solve one of the United States' most critical mineral dilemmas – a reliable and secure supply of the antimony vital to the nation's economy and security.
"We are seeing a whole-of-government approach to bring antimony production home," said Perpetua Resources President and CEO Jon Cherry.
The approach has included technical and financial backing from the U.S. Department of Defense, which hopes Perpetua's Stibnite Gold mine project in Idaho will provide a reliable and secure supply of antimony that is strategic to military readiness.
While antimony is best known for adding hardness to lead used in ammunition and car batteries, the 50 million pounds of this strategic metalloid (an element with both metal and non-metal properties) used in the U.S. last year also went into fireproofing compounds, high-tech devices, specialty glass, and other products for both civilian and military use.
"The demand for finished products around antimony are not only needed for our munition requirements from the Department of Defense, but are sorely needed by many domestic industrial companies that utilize antimony in their finished products, such as solar panels, semiconductors, fire retardants, roofing materials, etc.," said Gary Evans, CEO of United States Antimony, which is scaling up the production of the critical mineral at a smelter in Montana.
The strategic value of Perpetua's Stibnite mine project and United States Antimony's Montana refinery skyrocketed with China's ban on exports of antimony to the U.S. at the end of 2024.
Considering the absence of active antimony mines in the U.S., and the fact that China, Tajikistan, and Russia account for 90% of the global supply, American manufacturers are left with few options for meeting their demand for this critical and strategic metalloid.
The supply constraints have sent antimony prices skyrocketing from an average of $5.50/lb in 2023 to $29.50/lb by the end of May.
The ban also prompted Pentagon officials and Washington lawmakers to redouble efforts to ensure American manufacturers have secure supplies of antimony and other critical minerals that are not reliant on potential adversaries.
In a 2022 report, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee expressed its concerns over "recent geopolitical dynamics with Russia and China and how that could accelerate supply chain disruptions, particularly with antimony."
Over the ensuing three years, these concerns over supply chain disruptions have been realized.
During a January address at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Adam Burstein said the bans on the exports of antimony, gallium, and other critical minerals demonstrate "China's willingness to cause such a disruption to critical U.S. supply chains and highlights the urgency of securing our supply chains against such tactics."
To break America's dependence on geopolitical adversaries for a metalloid critical to military readiness and the nation's economy, the Pentagon provided $59.4 million to support Perpetua's mission to develop a domestic supply at its Stibnite Gold mine project in Idaho.
The historic Yellow Pine mine on what is now Perpetua Resources' Stibnite Gold project supplies strategic metals that are credited with saving the lives of one million American soldiers during World War II.
Home to a historic strategic metals mine credited with saving "the lives of a million American soldiers" during World War II, Stibnite continues to host rich stores of antimony that would be recovered as a byproduct of the gold also found there.
While delivering this antimony into North American supply chains, Perpetua will also be rehabilitating the impacts of the World War-era mining on the Stibnite Gold property.
"We believe that the Stibnite Gold project is a win-win-win," said Cherry. "It's a win for Idaho, it's a win for the environment, and it's a win for America's national security."
Nearly nine years after applying for federal authorizations for Stibnite, the U.S. Forest Service approved the major federal permits required for Perpetua to move forward with developing this critical mineral mine and remediation project.
Workers collect water samples as part of the remediation of historical mining impacts that Perpetua is carrying out in conjunction with developing a modern gold-antimony mine at its Stibnite Gold project.
Once in production, currently slated for 2028, Stibnite is expected to produce enough antimony to supply roughly one-third of America's needs.
"Our independence from Chinese control over antimony is right here in our backyard, and Perpetua Resources is honored to provide a critical part of the solution to the United States' strategic need for antimony, while also delivering an economically robust gold mine that will create new jobs in Idaho," said Cherry. "It's time for the Stibnite Gold Project to help secure our future."
To help round out an all-of-government effort to establish Stibnite as a source of American antimony and jobs, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has offered to loan Perpetua $2 billion to develop Stibnite, which will help reduce America's reliance on China and Russia for a strategic and critical metal.
"EXIM financing could play a pivotal role in advancing the project to production so we can reestablish a secure supply of antimony for the United States for decades to come," said Cherry.
Recovering antimony as a byproduct of gold at Stibnite would do little to establish a domestic supply without a refinery capable of upgrading antimony concentrates into the products needed by manufacturers.
United States Antimony's smelter in neighboring Montana is the only such facility in the U.S. and one of only a handful outside of China.
At the end of 2024, Perpetua and United States Antimony agreed to investigate the potential that at least some of the Stibnite concentrates were processed at the Montana smelter.
"If we can do this in America, then we should do this in America," Evans said when speaking about the potential of refining Stibnite concentrates.
US Antimony's smelter in Montana will upgrade ore concentrates from Alaska, Idaho, and other domestic sources into refined products for ammunition, batteries, semiconductors, and other products.
The current plant, however, only has the capacity to produce roughly 4 million lb of antimony per year, or about 10% of American manufacturers' current needs.
In May, Evans said United States Antimony plans to increase the Montana smelter's capacity sixfold by the end of 2025.
This would be more than enough capacity to process all the antimony concentrates produced at Stibnite.
The owner of the Montana refinery is not just counting on Stibnite, which is not expected to go into production until 2028, to supply feedstock for its smelter. Instead, it plans to truck antimony ore stockpiled from a World War I-era mine in Alaska to meet America's immediate needs.
"Our operations have and continue to play a central role in the U.S. antimony supply chain, and we are expanding that role with the recovery of our own strategic, previously mined deposits of ore located in Alaska to help reduce this foreign dependence," said Evans.
It is no surprise that United States Antimony turned to Alaska for its supply. America's Last Frontier hosts multiple high-grade deposits of the critical metalloid that have only been mined during times of strategic need – mostly during the World Wars.
This includes the company's Stibnite Creek project about 200 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Also referred to as Tok Antimony, this project was first recognized as a strategic source of high-grade antimony in 1914. Stockpiles of ore extracted from this World War I-era mine about 20 miles southwest of the crossroads town of Tok, however, were never delivered to market.
Now, United States Antimony plans to truck previously mined Stibnite Creek ore roughly 2,100 miles via the Alaska Highway to its Montana refinery.
At the same time, the company will be remediating a legacy mining area in eastern Alaska.
"With an established operational base in Montana and Mexico and near-term plans to recover high-grade, previously mined materials in Alaska, USAC [the ticker symbol of United States Antimony] is uniquely positioned to continue assisting the United States reassert control over its critical antimony supply chain," the company wrote in a statement announcing its antimony supply chain plans.
The company plans to begin processing Stibnite Creek ore by late summer.
United States Antimony is not the only company looking to transform Alaska's high-grade deposits into near-term solutions for American antimony supply.
One such company is Felix Gold Ltd., which is rapidly advancing a small-scale operation at Treasure Creek, a project that hosts a mine that supplied the U.S. with antimony during both World Wars.
The historic Scrafford mine at Treasure Creek produced an estimated 2.4 million lb of antimony from ore averaging 38.6% stibnite from 1915 to 1977.
Felix has outlined similar high-grade antimony mineralization at the NW Array target about 2,000 meters west of Scrafford.
Felix is endeavoring to establish a small mine at Treasure Creek by the end of 2025.
"We are surrounded by infrastructure, just 20 minutes from Fairbanks, Alaska, in a U.S. jurisdiction that is central to the global reshaping of critical mineral supply chains," said Felix Gold Executive Director Joe Webb. "With record antimony prices, increasing geopolitical pressure, and strong U.S. government policy support for domestic production, Felix is uniquely positioned to move fast."
Nova Minerals Ltd. is looking to develop an equally impressive antimony deposit being outlined at Estelle, a district-scale gold and critical mineral project about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage.
Samples with as much as 56.7% antimony were collected during the 2024 program at Nova Minerals' Estelle project.
"Estelle is a major mineralized trend, hosting gold, antimony, silver, copper, and other critical elements, and we are working to begin production as early as possible and operate for decades supplying the minerals the world needs," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen.
Nova is particularly interested in Stibium, where one sample was collected from a two-meter-thick outcropping vein of massive stibnite with grades as high as 60.5% antimony and 141 grams per metric ton gold.
"The Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project is in the right place, at the right time, with the right commodities," Gerteisen added.
Due to its exceptionally high antimony grades, DOD officials see the potential for a small pilot-scale mining operation at Stibium that can rapidly deliver significant quantities of domestic antimony into U.S. supply chains.
In preparation for establishing a small mine at Stibium that is expected to have outsized impacts on supply, Nova collected a 2,500-kilogram bulk sample from the prospect last year and is carrying out a 5,000-meter drill program this year to establish a resource.
The company has also applied for a DOD grant to fund the accelerated development of an antimony mine at Estelle, as well as a potential smelter in Alaska.
Coupled with the mine being developed in Idaho and refinery operating in Montana, unlocking Alaska's high-grade antimony potential could be the final piece needed to break America's dependence on China and Russia for this critical metalloid.
With more than 17 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration, and technology metals.
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