As Trigg Minerals (ASX: TMG) continues to discover value at their flagship Antimony Canyon Project (ACP), hundreds of millions of dollars are flooding into antimony developers, from both institutional investors who are continuing to back the sector and governments who are funding the extraction of what they urgently need.
Just a month after TMG acquired ACP, which contains over 30 historical antimony mines and played a significant role in securing domestic supply during heightened periods of conflict – their in-country team have discovered massive stibnite within the Emma and Mammoth mines.
The production history of these two prospects recorded grades that were adequate back then, but are astounding now at a more than US$60,000/t antimony price. Both Emma and Mammoth produced at an average grade of 1.5% Sb, with Emma’s high grade zone averaging 2.2% Sb while Mammoth’s was 2.4% Sb.
This discovery represents only two of several high-priority targets identified for maiden exploration, so it’s an exciting thought to imagine what Trigg’s exploration model, which is built on over 60 years of combined antimony experience, could uncover throughout the litany of prospects that are spread across the entire ACP tenement package.
While ACP is already the USA’s largest and highest-grade antimony project, with an astounding 12.7Mt @ 0.79% Sb for 100kt of contained antimony – this is based on a limited number of mines within the project. There is an exciting opportunity for TMG to define a materially larger resource by conducting a comprehensive assessment of all mineralised trends with modern exploration techniques.
Exceptional Geology with Strong Potential for Scale
ACP has an extremely advantageous geological setting, which is characterised by structurally focused mineralising fluids and favourable stratigraphy in the well understood Flagstaff Formation.
Mineralisation is primarily hosted in epizonal vein systems and stratabound replacement zones, with high-grade stibnite occurring as the dominant antimony mineral.
This is particularly exciting because the presence of both veins and stratabound zones often link into sizeable, continuous orebodies. You also get the best of both geological worlds – high-grade veins that have the potential to deliver near-term mining at a strong margin, and broad, flat lenses that spread the metal sideways and can be captured with low-cost step out drilling, with the goal of proving the viability of a bulk tonnage operation.
Most of ACP’s high-grade mineralisation occurs as sub-horizontal, lenticular orebodies and pods positioned above the lowermost sandstone-shale unit, within the more massive overlying sandstone. The contact between massive sandstone and underlying shale is a chemical trap that focussed the stibnite-bearing fluids. That means the horizon is likely continuous even where grade thins locally, giving room for bulk-tonnage additions around the high-grade lenses.
This is also the exact type of setting that TMG can use modern geophysics and geochemistry to trace these stibnite shoots well beyond the old workings, giving the team a significant advantage for the upcoming drilling campaign.
Given that ACP’s resource estimation came from only 6 mines on the project, out of over 30 that are contained across the whole portfolio of mining claims – applying TMG’s regimented exploration plan across the entire portfolio could drastically increase the scale of ACP’s resource.
Three examples of the repetitive massive stibnite zones and multiple vein systems that strengthen the project’s high grade potential, can be visualised below:
Source: TMG
Utah Government Directly Financing Critical Mineral Production
In typical fashion with being the Fraser Institute’s number one ranked mining jurisdiction in the entire world, the Utah Government is directly financing mining operations in the state – specifically the production of critical minerals.
The Utah State Legislature and the Utah Community Impact Board (CIB) recently approved an US$11 million loan to accelerate the development of Ares Strategic Mining’s (CSE: ARS) fluorspar and gallium mine. The financing terms were incredibly attractive, with a 7 year loan period at less than 4.5% annual interest and no repayments for the first 3 years.
This is a particularly interesting development given there was legislation passed specifically to make this financing available, which should serve as an encouraging signal in terms of the sense of urgency that Utah possesses in their approach to boosting domestic production of critical minerals.
The amendment – SB 187 – went from formation and public distribution to the governor signing it in just 57 days, with the funds being secured a little over two months later. The bill made ARS’ project exempt from the standard economic opportunity and benefit assessments that are required by the Utah Government, and allowed the funds to be rapidly dispersed from the Throughput Infrastructure Fund (TIP).
While the bill’s amendments specifically pertain to fluorspar, gallium and ARS’ mine, it’s made the state government’s alignment with the federal agenda on domestic critical mineral production abundantly clear – and TMG’s Antimony Canyon Project could very easily be next in line for this fast tracked funding process.
Critical Minerals Funding Flooding in from All Angles
Perpetua Resources has put a significant amount of effort into marketing themselves as a strategic asset that can help America’s antimony crisis, and could contribute up to 35% of the required supply – which the USA is almost entirely starved of at the moment – for 6 years starting from 2029.
This message has resonated well enough with markets to spark a US$425 million equity financing package, US$100 million of which came from legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson’s private family office. This is on top of the almost US$2 billion in debt that PPTA is seeking from EXIM.
While PPTA’s Stibnite project is mostly gold, a large part of their narrative being about antimony has certainly drawn significant interest from all corners of the market and government – which ultimately paints a pretty picture for the explorers and developers who are vying to contribute to the remaining 65% supply gap, as well as the near total supply gap that exists between now and then.
TMG’s expert team, who are working to develop the USA’s largest and highest-grade antimony project, are in prime position to secure funding that will bring this project back into production – as it has done so many times before during periods of significant need from America.
The US Army also recently awarded PPTA up to an additional US$6.9 million for further testing aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of using material sourced from their project to produce military-specification antimony trisulfide, bringing PPTA’s total government funding to US$80 million.
Establishing a fully domestic supply chain of antimony trisulfide in particular is paramount to the safety and security of America, given it is an essential and non-replaceable component to over 300 types of munitions.
TMG has perfectly positioned themselves in what is shaping up to be a vortex of funding mechanisms that will hopefully leave them spoilt for choice, and include a litany of financing options from the investment community, state and federal governments.
As TMG continues to aggressively execute their exploration plan, the key fast-tracked US government funding programs and permitting initiatives that are available for the production and processing of critical minerals, such as Exim Bank, DPA Title III and FAST-41 – are becoming increasingly tangible.
In the face of a prolonged antimony supply squeeze which shows no signs of being relieved – TMG is emerging as an ideal candidate to create value in a sector that is desperate for short, medium and long term solutions.
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