Trigg Minerals (ASX: TMG) is moving at lightspeed towards becoming an entirely Western, vertically integrated antimony producer that controls every step in the supply chain – all the way from mining ore to selling ingot. Over the past week and with a bolstered $15 million cash balance, TMG commissioned a net-zero smelting study with $17 billion market cap Metso (HE: METSO), while making two key board appointments – legendary SPAC veteran James Graf who has raised over US$2 billion in IPOs, and antimony expert and geologist Chris Gregory, who together with TMG’s CEO Andre Booyzen pioneered the success of Costerfield, Australia’s only antimony mine.
TMG’s smelting facility will have an initial annual capacity of 3,000-5,000 tons of 99.65% purity antimony ingot – which is directly linked to the company’s initial near-term production strategy, and is able to be scaled as needed. Metso’s market-leading proprietary Ausmelt TSL process is trusted by the world’s biggest mining companies, including Rio Tinto and Anglo American, across 50 global smelting operations for a myriad of commodities.
The US consumed 24kt of antimony in 2024, but domestic output is currently limited to UAMY’s operation in Montana, which is just 3,840t of concentrate at 60% Sb – leaving a more than 90% gap – before forecast stockpiling and rearmament. UAMY has struggled to get above 50% of nameplate capacity due to a lack of feedstock, and its aging infrastructure uses traditional roasting and direct reduction methods that are significantly deleterious.
Every month there are new catastrophic signs that the antimony market descending into a prolonged state of pandemonium, with the latest being another one of China’s major smelters closing indefinitely due to an inability to source concentrate – bringing the total to 20 out of 30 Chinese antimony smelting operations ceasing production.
Years of declining grades and neglect at antimony mines inside China, as well as a global state of ignorance towards the true criticality of antimony, has resulted in a completely unorderly disassemblage of a commodity supply chain that is vital to a litany of extremely important industries. The price action of antimony, which has seen a rise of over 500% in just over a year to trade as high as US$62,000/t in Rotterdam – has concerningly occurred without any stockpiling even taking place.
The Shanghai Metals Market recently highlighted further risks to the upside in the antimony price, by pointing out that downstream enterprises who are vigilantly monitoring the market for an opportunity to stockpile can only avoid it for so long, and once the trigger is pulled – vast amounts of hot money will pile into the market on expectations of rising enthusiasm.
The Antimony Canyon Project’s (ACP) gigantic JORC exploration target of 12.8 to 15.6Mt at 0.75% to 1.5% Sb, implying 96,000t to 234,000t of contained antimony, gives TMG the luxury of targeting the highest grade zones for initial production – such as the Nevada mine – which has historical production that averaged 2.2% Sb, with considerable high grade zones averaging 3.6% Sb.
A historical beneficiation test with a 500 pound sample of ACP ore delivered outstanding results that imply attractive metallurgical characteristics, with the ore grading 3.7% antimony while containing extremely low arsenic at 0.06% and no bismuth or lead – the three elements that are the enemy of antimony processing.
A 2022 study on Turkish antimony ore grading 5.06% Sb and 1.38% As demonstrated that even with modern processing methods, after creating a bulk concentrate that graded 24.54% Sb and 3.69% with a recovery rate of 98.9%, the product had to undergo 6 stages of cleaning flotation and concentrate to achieve 63.8% Sb and 0.31% As so a smelter could take it – which dropped Sb recovery to 83%. ACP’s ore should require far less processing stages due to its low As content – which ultimately drives stronger margins and lowers metallurgical risk.
TMG already has a world-class team of antimony smelting experts, having recruited two key executives from Strategic & Precious Metals Processing (SPMP) – the largest antimony smelter in the world outside of China and Russia – in Oman.
As COO, world-renowned antimony metallurgist David Fourie led the design, ramp-up and technical operations of SPMP, which is widely recognised as the first clean plant built to European environmental standards. As head of business development, Weihann Kleynhans was not only pivotal in the construction of SPMP, but he also pioneered the operation’s extensive feedstock sourcing and trading strategy, through his deep expertise in the global antimony market and long-held trusted business relationships. With Metso’s technology and ACP’s ore, the TMG will have everything they need to mine and refine American antimony.
Metso’s global reach can be be visualised below, where many of the world’s largest mining companies have adopted the Ausmelt TSL technology:
Source: Metso
Overview of Metso’s Industry-Leading Technology
The Ausmelt TSL Process is based on injecting air, oxygen and fuel directly into the molten slag bath through a vertically suspended lance, and is recognised for its environmentally responsible design. By delivering significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, minimal dust generation, and efficient off-gas capture compared to conventional smelting methods, Metso’s technology perfectly aligns TMG with its ESG goals.
There are also significant economic advantages to be gained through using Ausmelt TSL. By having the lance submerged in a bath, the heat transfer is extremely efficient and allows for oxygen-enrichment, yielding a high thermal efficiency and reduced fuel consumption. This produces outstanding metallurgical recoveries and energy efficiency, ultimately driving lower operating costs.
TMG also plans on utilising Ausmelt’s low electrical power demand to integrate renewable energy into its operation, and potentially even recover waste heat for electricity generation on-site – features that will drive energy costs even lower and drastically reduce the carbon footprint of TMG’s American mined and refined antimony.
Ausmelt is a commercially proven and widely adopted technology, deployed in over 50 smelters globally across copper, nickel, aluminum, lead, tin, zinc, and PGMs – and it has also been pilot-tested on antimony concentrates from both Australia and China, which significantly de-risks the process for Sb production TMG will implement. By adopting a mature technology with a global track record, TMG can avoid the scale-up risks often associated with novel extraction methods and focus on fast-tracking development.
The continuous development of the Ausmelt process over 40 years, with has included modern enhancements like oxygen enrichment, dry feed injection, and use of low-carbon fuels, has significantly improved energy efficiency and reduced both CO₂ and SO₂ emissions.
A chart displaying the incredible reduction in sulfur dioxide and dust emissions, as well as a visual representation of the Ausmelt TSL process, can be seen below:
Source: Metso
American Markets Eagerly Awaiting TMG with Open Arms
TMG have also made a series of brilliantly calculated moves that are gearing the company up for a US listing, which will result in significantly increased access to US capital markets – where demand for American based critical mineral deals is at extraordinarily high levels.
The recent appointment of US SPAC Veteran James Graf as Non-Executive director is the perfect addition to TMG’s team, as they prepare to take American markets by storm. Prior to his career with SPACs, where he orchestrated over US$2 billion in IPO proceeds, James served as President of Deutsche Bank’s investment bank in Hong Kong and managing director at Merrill Lynch in Singapore.
This is the exact type of operator who would be behind a transaction similar to PPTA’s US$425 million equity financing package, US$100 million of which came from legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson’s private family office. In fact, James’ current SPAC where he is CEO – Graf Global Corp – is currently sitting on US$240 million in cash waiting to be deployed.
It’s worth noting that half of James’ performance rights only vest once TMG hits $150 million market cap, and the other half is triggered by TMG hitting $250 million market cap – a massive uplift from the $97 million that TMG is capped at now.
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