As the desperate hunt for Western antimony continues, the Trigg Minerals (ASX: TMG) team have pulled off an incredible acquisition of the USA’s largest and highest-grade antimony project. It comes with an astounding 12.7Mt @ 0.79% Sb for 100kt of contained antimony – and is located in the Fraser Institute’s number one ranked mining jurisdiction in the entire world – America’s Utah.
There are a whole litany of historically producing mines across the Antimony Canyon Project (ACP). The Nevada mine averaged 2.2% Sb with considerable high grade zones averaging 3.6% Sb, while Emma and Mammoth both averaged 1.5% Sb, with considerable high grade zones of 2.2% Sb and 2.4% Sb, respectively.
TMG have also brought on antimony downstream expert and geologist Wiehann Kleynhans, who was instrumental in the construction of the world’s largest antimony smelter outside of China and Russia – in Oman.
Trigg can now take advantage of key fast tracked US government funding programs and permitting initiatives, available for the production and processing of critical minerals, such as Exim Bank, DPA Title III and FAST-41.
The Defence Production Act (DPA) Title III was the mechanism of funding that Perpetua Resources (PPTA) used to receive almost US$60 million in funding from the US government, just for permitting and feasibility studies. PPTA is now trying to utilise EXIM for a US$1.8 billion loan to construct a large-scale gold mine, which would only supply a portion of US antimony demand for six years as a byproduct – starting from 2028 in a best case scenario.
ACP is a pure antimony play, with numerous historical mines that could rapidly commence open-pit mining operations – and provide America with a vital source of a critical mineral that it desperately needs. It’s what the project has done many times since 1879 as Utah’s largest antimony producer – it’s located in the aptly named town of Antimony.
Utah took out first place in both the Investment Attractiveness Index and Policy Perception Index from the Fraser Institute, which factors in a litany of determinants relating to mineral endowment and permitting processes. TMG is in the world’s best region for getting into production as efficiently as possible, and they now have a world class project with 100kt of antimony to develop – perfectly positioning them for US government funding.
Antimony Canyon’s primary ore mineral is stibnite, and the rock is mostly silica. A 500 pound composite beneficiation test with material grading 3.7% Sb indicated that a straightforward gravity and flotation circuit should be sufficient. It also showed no bismuth and extremely low arsenic, which is encouraging from a metallurgy perspective.
The ore bearing zones at Emma, Nevada and Mammoth can be visualised below:
Source: TMG
TMG’s portfolio is turning into a crucial part of America’s antimony industry, and excitingly – building the infrastructure to support near-term development is becoming increasingly realistic, due to the compelling value proposition that is founded in structural tailwinds.
The Value in Building an Integrated Antimony Company
An important insight into the market’s expectations of the US to build their own robust antimony industry can be found in the United States Antimony Corp (NYSE: UAMY)’s US$300 million valuation – which TMG also has the potential to achieve.
UAMY’s share price has risen more than 1,000% over the past year, and aside from a rising antimony price – this has been driven by a minor smelting expansion plan, as well as a series of land package acquisitions that have a history of small scale production and can be rapidly restarted. TMG has this same strategy, with a robust and advanced project portfolio, a world-class team of antimony industry experts – and market cap not even 1/10 that of UAMY.
UAMY’s smelting expansion plan consists of investing US$15 million to increase capacity by six times, to reach 300 tons per month before the end of 2025 – which will barely make a dent in the supply gap, if they can even source enough feedstock to hit this figure.
With antimony mining expert Andre at the helm, antimony downstream expert Wiehann spearheading smelting processes, and America’s largest and highest grade antimony deposit – there is seriously strong potential for TMG to achieve material upside from their current valuation.
PPTA has shown that the US government is throwing around serious capital to secure any amount of antimony supply, even if it is not the primary focus of a company’s operations. TMG could likely build a smelter and commence mining with the amount of government funding PPTA received for permitting and feasibility studies alone, and they are entirely focused on antimony – the supply conditions of which appear to be worsening.
China Amplifying Pressure
Antimony prices continue to trade above US$60k/t, and China remains intent on preventing any of their domestically produced material from entering international markets – while being intentionally overt in their stance on the matter.
In early May, The Ministry of Commerce launched a coordinated crackdown on the illegal smuggling of critical minerals that are currently under an export ban, including antimony – and they wanted the entire market to know about it through an official announcement.
It is specifically designed to stop third-party rerouting of shipments, as well as blatant false declarations that disguise the contents of cargo, and follows Hong Kong customs seizing 25t of antimony ingot right near the border with mainland China in March.
It’s unknown how much antimony has made it out of China since the export controls were enacted, but given the extreme tightness of the market – any further supply vanishing could have further drastic impacts on the price of the commodity.
The Western world’s frightfully limited access to antimony had already reached breaking point months ago, with companies like €30 billion Henkel having to declare force majeure and suspend deliveries of four types of adhesives and lubricants that are widely used by automakers.
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