The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - February 14, 2024
Perpetua Resources' Stibnite Gold project is home to a historic mine credited with saving the lives of one million American soldiers due to its supply of critical minerals during World War II.
To help break America's reliance on China and Russia for the antimony needed for military hardware and munitions, the U.S. Department of Defense has conditionally agreed to invest up to an additional $34.6 million into Perpetua Resources Corp.'s Stibnite gold-antimony mine in Idaho.
"This latest award from the Department of Defense brings us a step closer to realizing our vision for the Stibnite Gold Project," said Perpetua Resources President and CEO Laurel Sayer.
Antimony is used in a wide array of military hardware. This semi-metal is used in fireproofing compounds to protect soldiers, night vision goggles, and laser sighting systems. The largest military application for antimony is to harden lead alloys used in ammunition, mortars, flares, grenades, and missiles.
In addition to its military uses, antimony lends similar properties to civilian products. Its fireproofing properties can be found everywhere, from baby nurseries to industrial work sites; its optical qualities are used in binoculars and smartphone screens, and antimony-lead alloys improve the plate strength and charging characteristics of the lead-acid batteries that have started internal combustion engine vehicles for more than a century.
Antimony is also emerging as a primary ingredient in liquid-metal batteries that can store electricity at the grid scale, a key enabler to the transition to intermittent renewable energy sources.
Despite its criticality to U.S. military, civilian, and emerging green energy applications, no antimony is mined domestically. As a result, American manufacturers depend on imports from oft adversarial nations for 82% of their supply, with the balance coming from recycling.
China, Tajikistan, and Russia accounted for 79% of the global supply of antimony in 2023, according to a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Pentagon sees Perpetua's Stibnite project in Idaho, home to a historic mine credited with saving the lives of a million American soldiers during World War II, as the best place to establish a secure domestic supply of antimony.
The Pentagon's investment in Stibnite Gold began with two $100,000 grants to see if military-grade antimony trisulfide could be produced from the Idaho project.
Following this initial study, DOD awarded Perpetua another $24.8 million of Defense Production Act Title III funding to complete environmental and engineering studies necessary to finalize the federal and state permitting needed to reestablish a mine at Stibnite.
Now, the Pentagon has conditionally approved an additional $34.6 million in DPA Title III funding to advance Stibnite to construction readiness, which would increase the total investment in the antimony project to $59.4 million.
Perpetua began permitting the Stibnite mine more than six years ago and hopes to gain the federal and state permits to begin construction by the end of this year. Upon a positive permitting decision, it is expected to take about three years to develop the mine.
Once the mine reaches commercial production, which could happen as early as 2028, Stibnite is expected to supply roughly 35% of America's current antimony needs, while also producing roughly 4.24 million ounces of gold over 15 years of mining.
"Establishing a domestic source of the critical mineral antimony is more important than ever, and we stand ready to responsibly produce critical resources here at home and help strengthen America's national and economic security," Sayer said.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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