US backs Nova with US$43.4M to kickstart antimony production at Estelle

• US funding to help shift Nova’s profile from gold and antimony explorer to strategic dual-commodity critical minerals producer
• The Department of War agreement will support development of integrated US antimony supply chain at Nova’s Estelle project
• Antimony has been identified as a critical mineral for munitions as the US races to reduce reliance on China

Special Report: Australian junior Nova Minerals has landed a major win in Washington, with its wholly owned US subsidiary Alaska Range Resources (ARR) securing funding worth US$43.4 million (A$65.5 million).

The funds are purpose designed to accelerate Nova’s (ASX:NVA) plans to bring antimony production online at its Estelle gold and critical minerals project in Alaska. The money was awarded under the Defense Production Act and administered by the powerful US Department of War’s Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization directorate.

The two-year agreement will allow Nova to fast-track development of a fully integrated US antimony supply chain, from extraction and concentration through to the refining of highly sought-after military-grade antimony trisulfide.

This material is essential for munitions and other defence applications and the US has identified antimony as a critical mineral due to its reliance on overseas supply chains. China banned exports of antimony into the US last December, heightening Washington’s push to secure domestic alternatives and sending prices skyrocketing.

‘Further confidence’

Nova CEO, Christopher Gerteisen commented: “We are proud to have our subsidiary ARR partner with the US Department of War to help secure a fully domestic, redundant supply chain for the munitions and other defence products US troops need to keep the nation and allies safe, as well as future supply to the US industrial base for a wide range of traditional and high-tech applications, including semiconductors and energy systems.

“This award will fund the initial phase of Nova’s strategy to establish a full spectrum state of the art antimony mining and refining hub based in Alaska to supply refined antimony products to the US industrial base and beyond.

“After conducting rigorous vetting and technical due diligence of the Estelle Project, ARR is proud to be the recipient of this award, which provides further confidence in the quality of antimony mineralisation and highlights the potential scale and scope of future antimony production from the Estelle Project.”

Gerteisen said the Nova team was now looking forward to working with a range of stakeholders to bring Estelle into production.

Dual potential

The Estelle project covers a 514km2 footprint with multiple high-grade gold and antimony prospects across a 35km mineralised corridor. Earlier exploration at its Stibium prospect confirmed high-grade antimony and gold, highlighting the project’s dual potential.

The project’s near-term antimony potential has been backed by independent resources expert RFC Ambrian, which has listed Estelle as one of nine potentially viable near-term antimony projects in the world, and one of only two within the US. The other is the Stibnite project owned by $3Bn market cap Perpetua Resources.

Major growth in sight

News of the funding comes as Nova wraps up an almost 24/7 Alaskan summer drilling campaign and works towards several key milestones.

The company is rapidly advancing the world-class Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals District, with recent activity including infill reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the Korbel deposit as Nova works towards a potential higher-grade starter pit.

There’s also been strong focus on the 1.24Moz RPM deposit, which is also advancing towards feasibility and permitting.

Encouragingly, ore sorting trials at RPM have already delivered a 4.3x grade upgrade (from 1.32g/t to 5.72g/t), while heap-leach testing returned up to 68.7% gold recovery. Further optimisation of the CIP/CIL circuits is underway and expected to improve gold recoveries ahead of the PFS.

On the antimony front, Nova has been ramping up efforts at the Stibium target, a hot emerging critical mineral opportunity.

These efforts build on a multi-million-ounce bulk-tonnage gold resource and are part of Nova’s aggressive push towards unlocking even more value from the 9.9Moz project, with entry into the exclusive 10Moz gold club now within striking distance.

All upcoming assay results are slated to directly feed into an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), strengthening the base for the ongoing pre-feasibility study (PFS) and positioning the company for potential significant re-rating.

More to explore

Setting Estelle apart isn’t just its growing resource base, but also the scale and untapped upside across the wider district.

With multiple regional prospects yet to be fully explored, the district remains wide open for significant new discoveries, making it one of the most exciting gold and critical minerals frontiers in North America.

As drilling continues and new data feeds into both the PFS and long-term development strategies, Nova is becoming more confident of Estelle’s potential to become a tier 1 gold and critical minerals camp.

The strategic studies currently underway will determine whether Nova initiates a fast-track start-up mine at the high-grade RPM deposit or opts for a larger-scale development that includes Korbel and additional regional assets.

Either path sets the stage for robust, scalable production at what has potential to be a generational discovery in a tier 1 location.

This article was developed in collaboration with Nova Minerals, 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.