Everest Metals partners with Arlington Innovation to access US funding opportunities

• Everest Metals partners with Arlington Innovation to access US funding for its West Australian rubidium project
• Mt Edon holds 7900t of rubidium, a critical mineral for US defence and electronics with limited global supply
• The deal targets non-dilutive financing through US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) programs and potential offtake agreements

Special Report: Everest Metals Corporation has signed a MoU with Washington DC-based Arlington Innovation Partners seeking to access US funding and partnerships for its Mt Edon critical minerals project in WA’s Mid-West.

The MoU establishes a framework for the two companies to collaborate on the identification and introduction of alternative non-dilutive US Government-related funding solutions, as well as third-party offtake partners that could assist in development of the project.

Everest Metals Corporation’s (ASX:EMC) Mt Edon project is 5km southwest of Paynes Find, a former gold rush settlement in WA’s Mid West, and is considered highly prospective for lithium, caesium, tantalum and rubidium mineralisation.

Mt Edon holds an inferred resource of 3.6Mt grading 0.22% rubidium, or more than 7900t of contained rubidium, with a higher grade zone of 1.3Mt at 0.33% rubidium.

This is hugely positive as rubidium is listed as a critical mineral under the US Critical Minerals list and is used in biomedical research, electronics and defence applications – as well as pyrotechnics and specialty glass.

It is deemed essential to the US economy and is vulnerable to strategic critical global supply chain disruptions due to the extremely limited global production.

“This MOU with Arlington is a key step for Everest, in advancing and providing pathways to potential US offtake partners, EXIM, DoW and DoE, all of which offer strategic financing solutions and grant programs,” EMC executive chairman Mark Caruso said.

“The potential to secure a proven pathway for strategic mineral development through non-dilutive capital and credible downstream and/or midstream offtake partners, further enhances Mt Edon’s position as a globally significant source of rubidium supply, and supports the US-Australia critical minerals collaboration as a catalyst to deliver value to shareholders.”

Watch more: Everest Metals forges US funding path for Mt Edon rubidium

Memorandum of understanding

Arlington Innovation Partners is focused on securing critical materials for the US national defence sector and protected markets.

It seeks to accelerate domestic sourcing, midstream processing and downstream US-based production, an approach that minimises reliance on adversarial nations while fostering resilient, secure and sovereign secure supply chains.

Its network unlocks access to a pipeline of transformative industry-disrupting projects, each meticulously assessed and evaluated.

The MoU leverages Arlington’s expertise to navigate the US Export-Import Bank’s (EXIM) financing programs, notably the Supply Chain Resiliency Initiative and China and Transformational Exports Program.

These programs provide loans, guarantees and insurance to support critical minerals projects that enhance US supply chain security, and counter China’s control over a major portion of the global rubidium supply market.

Under the agreement, the parties will investigate development of downstream processing from Mt Edon, engage in discussions regarding the development of programs and services in the extraction of critical minerals such as rubidium and lithium, and endeavour to identify potential projects of interest.

They will also engage in discussions regarding the development of proposals for collaborative projects between the parties including joint applications for future projects and projects scale up.

Mt Edon project

Mt Edon sits within a 1.2km lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatite corridor that remains open along strike, which offers significant exploration upside.

Its resource includes a high-grade subset of 1.3Mt at 0.33% rubidium, which makes up nearly 56% of the total contained rubidium content.

Adding interest, its near-surface mineralisation supports low-cost, open cut mining potential.

Research in partnership with Edith Cowan University in 2024 achieved 97% rubidium recovery via a proprietary direct rubidium extraction process, with a provisional patent filed in February 2025.

Since then, engineering scoping studies completed in June 2025 have suggested the project is technically viable with a prospective processing plant capacity of circa 750-1000t of rubidium.

A purification and optimisation process is ongoing through MRIWA innovation funding.

EMC is carrying out a 2500m reverse circulation drill program that started in September 2025 to upgrade resources and test extensions, including diamond drilling for metallurgical and geotechnical data.

The company expects to upgrade resources in Q1 2026 followed by pilot plant construction in the same year.

This article was developed in collaboration with Everest Metals Corporation, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.