Perpetua partners with Idaho National Lab to build antimony processing plant

Perpetua Resources (Nasdaq, TSX: PPTA) partnered with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to host, commission and operate a flexible, modular pilot processing plant expected to be capable of recovering critical and defense-related minerals.

The initiative — part of the Battelle Energy Alliance — is intended to demonstrate the feasibility of producing high-quality, military specification antimony trisulfide using material from Perpetua’s Stibnite project at the INL site.

In October, the company began early works construction at its $1.3 billion Stibnite gold-antimony project in central Idaho, which was fast-tracked by the Trump administration as part US Army’s objective of establishing a fully domestic “ground-to-round” antimony trisulfide supply chain.

The pilot plant is part of a broader partnership between Perpetua and the US Army via the Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium (DOTC) to secure domestic sources of critical minerals and advance domestic defense mineral processing capabilities.

“This partnership highlights Idaho’s role in national security and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to responsible resource development, job creation, and workforce training in Idaho,” Perpetua’s CEO Jon Cherry said in a news release. “The successful demonstration of this plant will contribute to sustained growth in American mineral independence and resilience.”

The pilot plant leverages the critical and strategic materials and defense programs at INL — the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) lead lab for nuclear energy research. Once installed, it will receive samples of material from the Stibnite project, and operators will conduct pilot-scale testing to produce antimony trisulfide concentrate needed for munitions and advanced systems used by US military, Perpetua said.

In May 2025, Perpetua was awarded up to $6.9 million in additional DOTC funding, bringing the company’s total DOTC awards up to $22.4 million.

“As a longtime supporter of the Idaho National Laboratory and Perpetua Resources’ efforts in domestic antimony production, I am thrilled to see this partnership come together,” US House Representative Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said in a statement.

“Idaho has the potential to provide our country with a domestic source of critical minerals that are essential to our national security needs. This partnership is a win for Idaho, and I am pleased to see our great state once again play such a pivotal role on the world stage.”