U.S. Department of War awards $43.4M to Alaska Range Resources to secure antimony supply

Nova Minerals Limited announced its 100% owned U.S. subsidiary Alaska Range Resources, LLC (ARR), has been awarded US$43.4 million in Defense Production Act Title III funding by the U.S. Department of War (DoW) to produce antimony trisulide at its Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project (Estelle Project) in Alaska.

“Antimony metal and antimony trisulfide have critical applications in munitions, especially low and medium caliber, where it is used in primer production and case hardening,” says Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Mike Cadenazzi. “The award to ARR advances North American sourcing of this critical mineral for the defense industrial base.”

The award will enable ARR to accelerate development of a fully integrated U.S. antimony supply chain to extract, concentrate, and refine stibnite to produce military grade antimony trisulide to assist in meeting the U.S. defense industrial base demands.

“We're proud to have ARR partner with the U.S. Department of War to help secure a fully domestic, redundant supply chain for the munitions and other defense products our troops need to keep our nation and allies safe, as well as future supply to the U.S. industrial base for a wide range of traditional and high-tech applications, including semiconductors and energy systems,” says Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen. “This award will fund the initial phase of the Company’s strategy to establish a full spectrum state of the art antimony mining and refining hub based in Alaska to supply refined antimony products to the U.S. industrial base and beyond. After conducting rigorous vetting and technical due diligence of the Estelle Project, ARR is proud to be the recipient of this award, which provides further confidence in the quality of antimony mineralization and highlights the potential scale and scope of future antimony production from the Estelle Project. The company appreciates the support and partnership of Alaska's federal and state leaders, particularly Senators Murkowski and Sullivan , Congressman Begich and Governor Dunleavy. The Estelle Project will play a central role in this effort where Alaska will be at the heart of the country’s supply of critical materials, and we look forward to working closely with our local partners from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) CORE-CM group, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR), the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and Alaska Tribes and Native Corporations to bring Estelle into production.”

Stibnite is the most abundant naturally occurring ore of antimony. There are significant deposits of stibnite in Stibium, Alaska, and other prospects across the Estelle Project in Alaska where ARR is currently executing a mining operation.

“China and Russia control the market for antimony and all its derivatives, putting the United States at risk of interruptions that could jeopardize national security,” adds Jeffrey Frankston, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Resilience. “Establishing domestic sources for critical metals and minerals like antimony and its compounds enhances the long-term resilience of our supply chains.”