en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Stibnite mining district in Idaho, USA, has regained attention due to the critical minerals strategy, with multiple Australian resource companies accelerating their layout for antimony and tungsten projects.
This region sparked the Thunder Mountain gold rush in the 1890s following a gold discovery, later shifting to antimony and tungsten development, and by the 1940s was renowned for its widespread stibnite antimony deposits. Historical data shows that the area once met approximately 90% of the US antimony demand and about half of its tungsten demand during World War II. The Antimony Ridge prospect supplied antimony to the US government during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
Currently, the US classifies antimony and tungsten as critical minerals, primarily used in the defense sector, and relies heavily on imports. The US has had no commercial tungsten mining since 2015, and domestic antimony production only resumed last year in Montana. China supplies about 80% of the world's tungsten and over half of its antimony. In 2024, Beijing imposed export restrictions on antimony and related products, later expanding controls to tungsten.
Against this backdrop, the Trump administration's Executive Order 14241 requires federal agencies to accelerate the approval of critical mineral projects under the FAST-41 framework. For selected projects, FAST-41 streamlines processes by improving interagency coordination, establishing publicly tracked approval timelines, and providing regulatory certainty.
The Stibnite gold project, operated by Canada's Perpetua Resources, is a lead project under the FAST-41 framework, holding 4.8 million ounces of gold reserves and representing one of the largest antimony resources in the US, with tungsten potential as well. The project was included in the FAST-41 program in April last year, completed federal approval review in September, and is currently under construction. It has secured a $2.9 billion loan and is expected to supply 35% of US antimony demand in its first six years of operation.
Australia's Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) holds the Horse Heaven project, which includes the Antimony Ridge prospect, added to the FAST-41 transparency project list in April. Resolution is working diligently to rapidly advance this prospect toward production to support US antimony demand. The group initially targeted a 1.01-hectare historical mining area featuring historical open pits, visible stibnite vein outcrops, and high-grade rock samples averaging 40% antimony. At the Golden Gate prospect, approximately 8,000 tonnes of tungsten were historically mined, along with a non-JORC gold resource of 286,000 ounces. Last year's drilling yielded broad intercepts, including a 253-meter section grading 1.5 g/t gold from surface. Resolution is currently conducting a follow-up program of up to 45 drill holes, with an initial JORC-compliant resource estimate expected by early next year. The company is also enhancing downstream potential through the acquisition of the Johnson Creek antimony-tungsten processing plant and historical tungsten inventory.
Resolution was accepted as a member of the US Defense Industrial Base Consortium in June, which comprises over 1,500 companies, universities, and organizations. The company plans to deepen engagement with US government agencies, members of Congress, and defense organizations, assess potential funding opportunities and strategic partnerships, and seek a secondary listing on Nasdaq.
Other ASX exploration companies are advancing projects in the same region. Red Mountain Mining (ASX:RMX) has the Yellow Pine antimony project, approximately 2 kilometers from the Stibnite project, with its Silver Dollar project historically producing antimony at an average grade of 17.7%. Pioneer Minerals (ASX:PMM) holds the North Pine project adjacent to the Stibnite project, which includes the Springfield prospect, a small historical tungsten mine based on a magnetic anomaly 2.9 kilometers long and up to 600 meters wide. American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4) is searching for antimony and gold in its Central Idaho antimony project. Koba Resources (ASX:KOB) has two projects within the Idaho cobalt belt: the Blackpine asset, featuring high-grade cobalt, copper, and gold near the Blackbird mining district, and the Colson asset, which includes the Salmon Canyon mine, which produced hundreds of tonnes of copper-cobalt ore between 1964 and 1979.
