- A gross income of $250,000 or more per annum in each of the previous two financial years; or
- Net assets of at least $2.5 million; and
- A verified Qualified Accountant’s certificate given no more than two (2) years ago confirming the Sophisticated Investor status. Please refer to the Corporations Act: Specifically Section 708(08) and Section s761G(7)
Antimony
Antimony
Antimony Price Action
The US has been aggressively rebuilding their domestic antimony market in anticipation of tighter export controls that have now been enacted by China – causing the critical mineral’s price to rise from US$6,000/t to over US$24,000/t.
Global fears around its highly concentrated supply have now been realised, as the Chinese Government recently announced sweeping new restrictions to antimony and antimony-related products that will come into effect from September 15 – sending already tight market skyrocketing to new all time highs:
Antimony 101
Antimony is a strategic critical mineral that is used in all manner of military applications, including the manufacture of armour piercing bullets, ammunition primers, and tracer ammunition. It also includes night vision goggles, infrared sensors, precision optics, laser sighting, explosive formulations, nuclear weapons and production, tritium production, flares, military clothing, and communication equipment.
China continued to be the leading global antimony producer in 2021, accounting for 55% of global mine production, followed by Russia at 23% and Tajikistan at 12%.
There were only 24 antimony mines operating globally in 2018 that produced 147kt, which declined to 110kt in 2021. China also continues to account for around 80% of processing capacity.
Another interesting growth opportunity for antimony is fibreglass composites, which are rapidly replacing conventional materials in many applications, such as aerospace, automobiles, construction, and electronics due to their high strength, low cost, easy processability and availability in various forms and shapes. It slides relatively easily into fibreglass manufacturing processes, as its added directly to resin which is dispersed using normal mixing equipment.
The second and third largest key uses for the critical mineral are flame retardants, and lead-acid batteries.
FXG’s Scrafford Shear Antimony Project
The historic Scrafford Antimony Mine at Treasure Creek was one of Alaska’s largest antimony producers, achieving past production grades up to 58% Sb. New antimony assays from 2022 drilling (previously only gold assays conducted) includes 3.0m @ 14.24% Sb from 7.62m, 1.5m @ 15.99% Sb from 86.87m and 7.5m @ 3.3% Sb from 141.7m, including 1.5m @ 7.43% Sb.
The 2023 drilling results complement previously reported high-grade antimony mineralisation from 2023 drilling, and include 15.2m @ 5.5% Sb from 21.3m, including 6.1m @ 13% Sb, 1.5m @ 26.1% Sb from 38.1m, and 6.1m @ 7.7% Sb from 3m, including 1.5m @ 28% Sb.
The company is now investigating near-term production, as Felix Gold assesses the viability of a stand-alone, near-term, high-grade and low-capex antimony production, including collaboration with relevant U.S. government agencies to support critical metal supply chain security.
Geologically the area is dominated by Devonian age meta-igneous and meta-sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, and an unconformable cover sequence of Tertiary sedimentary rocks and gravels.
Known gold mineralsiation is associated with veins, skarns and large-scale faults and is considered analagous to other Tintina Province Intrusive Related Gold occurrences.
American Antimony Action
The urgent need for supply and processing diversification has been repeatedly highlighted. The US used to have a healthy antimony market, which has since been reduced to nothing. The American Congress approved US$30.6 billion for munitions during fiscal 2024, US$5.8 billion more than 2023, and the industry was already experiencing supply shortages that will now be severely exacerbated.
The concern of 100% import reliance from foreign countries, of which China and Russia are the largest producers, had already led to US Department of Defence to take drastic and direct actions such as allocating US$24.8 million to an old antimony mine in Idaho in order to accelerate its environmental and engineering studies and finalise an investment decision.
The urgent need for supply and processing diversification of antimony has been repeatedly highlighted. Congress has taken a keen interest the US’ antimony stockpiles in recent years, citing the significant security risk of both dwindling reserves and no domestic production. US$10 million has been allocated to the US Army for studies that are investigating domestic sourcing and production of antimony.
The Manager of the National Defense Stockpile at the Defense Logistics Agency is now required to provide regular updates on antimony stockpiles, and provide a five year outlook on current and future supply chain vulnerabilities.
Report on the exploration of the Scrafford Antimony Property
Felix Mineral Resources
View our updated Mineral Resource Statement