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Perpetua Resources (Nasdaq: PPTA) (TSX: PPTA) has received a new 36-month, $40 million award through the U.S. Army’s Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium (DOTC) from the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Agile Sustainment & Ammunition (PAE AS&A) in Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.
The award, the company said, will fund a program to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of producing tungsten concentrate at its project in the historical Stibnite mining district in Idaho.
Structured as a cost-share program between Perpetua and the U.S. Government, funding will support drilling to define a potential tungsten mineral resource, collection of material for laboratory and bench-scale metallurgical testing and permitting and engineering of an exploration decline to access areas of known tungsten mineralization.
There has been no commercial tungsten mining in the United States since 2015. The US is wholly reliant on imports, with recent Chinese export controls and new federal sourcing restrictions adding to the defense and manufacturing supply risk.
The Stibnite mining district has a history of antimony and tungsten production, supplying roughly half of the tungsten and 90% of the antimony used by the United States during World War II. When the war ended, mining for tungsten and antimony concluded, leaving identified mineralized materials behind.
In August, Perpetua reported a new gold-tungsten discovery along the southeastern edge of the proposed Yellow Pine pit at its Gold-Stibnite project. Drilling also outlined gold mineralization at the adjacent Huckleberry fault zone and returned antimony-tungsten intercepts at Hangar Flats.
The company has said those areas could eventually add to 3.1 million oz. of indicated and inferred gold resources and 99.8 million lb. of antimony resources lying outside the current reserves.
Stibnite is expected to produce an average 463,000 oz. of gold annually during its first four years, according to Perpetua’s December technical report. The project is part of U.S. efforts to establish a domestic antimony supply chain for defence and industrial uses.
The company said the drilling program at the Hangar Flats deposit returned significant tungsten-antimony mineralization, as previously reported, including 9.8 meters grading 4.6% tungsten, 8.3% antimony; 22.9 meters grading 1.2% tungsten, 3.2% antimony and 3.4 meters grading 1.5% tungsten, 10.6% antimony.
The results underpin the new DOTC award which will focus largely on the tungsten mineralization beneath the Hangar Flats pit, Perpetua said.
“The U.S. Army’s additional investment in a historically proven American tungsten source at Stibnite underscores the growing strategic value of Stibnite’s mineral endowment and continues to strengthen the partnerships supporting Perpetua’s future,” Perpetua Resources CEO Jon Cherry said in a news release.
“Historical production and recent exploration results suggest Stibnite has the potential to be one of the world’s highest-grade tungsten sources,” Cherry said.
Perpetua’s proposed program with the U.S. Army includes an initial surface exploration drilling program and metallurgical test work on an existing 550-kilogram sample compiled from prior exploration activities grading 9.2% antimony and 4.2% tungsten. Other work will include the design, permitting, and possible construction of an exploration decline to access the high-grade antimony, tungsten and gold mineralization beneath the Hangar Flats pit.
In addition to drilling for tungsten under the DOTC award, the company said it intends to continue to advance its own ongoing exploration activities underneath the currently permitted Hangar Flats pit which contains approximately 1.37 million ounces of gold resources and over 95 million pounds of antimony resources not included in the current mine plan or in the reported mineral reserves. Any activity outside the scope of the currently permitted mine plan will require additional regulatory review and permitting.
Perpetua said will design and implement the tungsten exploration project and will match the U.S. Army’s $40 million contribution in the joint investment. The initial 18-month phase is expected to cost approximately $18 million and be shared equally between Perpetua and the U.S. Army. The timing, scope and cost of subsequent phases are subject to ongoing development based on results of prior exploration, testing, engineering and permitting activities, as well as approval of each incremental phase of additional funding.
This new award brings total U.S. Government awards to Perpetua for critical minerals to $126 million since 2022. In addition to the announced DOTC grant, Perpetua has submitted proposals for additional grants to further expand its critical minerals program.
Perpetua Resources stock was up over 9% Tuesday afternoon in Toronto. The company has a C$3.2 billion ($2.3 billion) market capitalization.