Perpetua Resources receives additional funding for Stibnite project from US Army Corps

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(Reuters) – Mining company Perpetua Resources on Wednesday said it has been awarded up to $6.9 million in additional funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its Idaho antimony and gold Stibnite project.

The Pentagon-backed mine, which would be the country’s first antimony project, has an estimated reserve of 148 million pounds of the metal used in bullets and tanks, as well as in alloys for electric-vehicle batteries.

China, responsible for nearly 60% of globally mined antimony in 2024, banned exports of the metal to the United States in December last year, prompting efforts to increase production within the U.S.

This supplemental award will allow Perpetua to expand the research and support the U.S. Army’s objective of establishing a fully domestic “ground-to-round” antimony trisulfide supply chain.

“Advancing America’s capabilities to process minerals critical to national defense is essential for our long-term mineral independence and resilience,” said CEO Jon Cherry.

The company said that with the receipt of this additional funding, its total awards from the Department of Defense exceed $80 million, including the $15.5 million received under an Ordnance Technology Initiative Agreement in August 2023.

Last week, the company received the final federal permit, the Clean Water Act Section 404, from the U.S. Army Corps for the project.

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)