In early 2026, twin efforts by U.S. Antimony Corp. and Nova Minerals Ltd. to anchor a fully domestic supply chain for the critical mineral antimony in Alaska are running up against months-long permitting delays and an urgent hunt for backup feedstock, forcing both companies to redraw production schedules just as Pentagon dollars and defense-stockpile contracts intensify the pressure.
An expansive build-out had seemed within reach: USAC’s Mohawk mine north of Fairbanks would furnish high-grade ore, while Nova’s planned refinery at Port MacKenzie near Anchorage would turn concentrates into antimony trisulfide for military and industrial use. Yet a January report by Mining News North shows how regulatory bottlenecks, supply-chain improvisation and early-stage missteps have combined to stall what many policymakers view as a linchpin of U.S. mineral security.
Alaska had looked poised to break foreign dominance—mainly from China and Russia—over a metal vital to ammunition, flame retardants and semiconductor production. Instead, the two companies most closely associated with that goal are spending the opening months of 2026 explaining why ore is still in the ground and why potential substitutes are being sought thousands of miles away.
USAC: five-month setback and a scramble in Montana
U.S. Antimony Corp. entered last autumn with a $245 million contract to supply antimony metal to the National Defense Stockpile and a plan to ship its first Alaska-mined material to the company’s refinery in Thompson Falls, Montana. Those shipments never left the state. According to executive vice-president Joe Bardswich, permitting snags added roughly five months to the timeline and forced the firm to pivot to Montana-sourced feedstock so that its furnaces did not sit idle—a shift he called an “unexpected but necessary detour,” the trade outlet reported.
Chief executive Gary Evans struck an equally candid tone, telling the publication that “building a complex supply chain on an accelerated schedule was always going to expose the potholes.” While he argued that USAC still enjoys a “tremendous head start” on emerging domestic rivals, the delay underscores the precarious nature of U.S. efforts to onshore critical-mineral production. The Mohawk project remains central to that strategy, but the holdup has postponed the first substantial test of whether Alaskan ore can move seamlessly through the regulatory maze from pit to port to downstream processing.
Nova Minerals: big grant, bigger questions on feedstock
Nova Minerals appeared to hold the complementary piece of the puzzle. In September it secured a $43.4 million Defense Production Act grant aimed at fast-tracking an antimony refinery in the Port MacKenzie industrial district, about 50 miles from Anchorage. The plant is designed to convert raw concentrates into battery-grade antimony trisulfide and feed domestic ammunition and electronics supply chains. Nova chief executive Christopher Gerteisen laid out an ambitious timeline centered on trucking ore from the company’s Estelle project, roughly 100 miles away. Equipment orders for crushers and ore-sorting systems followed, evidence that capital was being deployed as soon as the grant cleared.
But the same Mining News North investigation revealed that Nova’s management is simultaneously exploring overseas feedstock, including preliminary talks to buy concentrates from Pakistan. Gerteisen framed the outreach as prudent hedging encouraged by the Department of Defense during what he called “the vulnerable early stages” of the build-out. The disclosure nonetheless raised eyebrows among observers who had championed the project as a pillar of self-sufficiency.
Why permitting matters
Permitting has long been cited by miners as the principal barrier to U.S. resource development, a critique that takes on added urgency when the metals at stake populate the federal critical-minerals list. Each company’s delays stem from different choke points—USAC’s involve transport authorizations for hazardous material, while Nova’s revolve around state and borough approvals for industrial zoning—but both underline how state and federal agencies remain cautious when confronted with new large-scale extraction and processing ventures.
The Defense Logistics Agency, already committed to purchasing antimony from USAC, has so far deferred comment on whether delivery dates will be amended. For its part, the Pentagon’s Office of Industrial Policy has lauded Nova’s readiness to seek “all viable feedstock” but emphasized that the ultimate objective is an Alaska-to-Alaska supply chain free of strategic chokepoints.
Economic stakes
Antimony commands attention because it straddles military necessity and commercial utility. It stiffens lead in bullets, acts as a flame retardant in plastics and adds conductivity to certain semiconductors. China produced an estimated 70 percent of the global primary supply in 2024, with Russia and Tajikistan responsible for much of the remainder. U.S. consumption therefore depends on imports that are vulnerable to geopolitical friction. A functioning Alaskan corridor could, according to company estimates, satisfy up to one-third of domestic demand by the end of the decade, but only if mine and refinery come online in tandem.
Community reactions in Alaska have been mixed. Borough officials near Fairbanks welcomed the prospect of diversified employment beyond gold and oil, while some local environmental groups urged state regulators to apply “the same rigor that governs North Slope energy projects,” citing groundwater concerns. Neither company has yet released an updated environmental-impact statement reflecting the revised timelines.
Adjusting the road map
With ore from Mohawk blocked for now, USAC is shipping surplus material from its Montana mines to maintain furnace throughput and meet partial contract milestones. The company says it continues to work with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to resolve outstanding transport permits and has expanded its internal compliance team to accelerate document preparation.
Nova, flush with federal grant money, has begun site preparation at Port MacKenzie but acknowledges that without a guaranteed short-term feedstock supply the refinery could open well below nameplate capacity. Talks with potential overseas suppliers remain non-binding; terms would hinge on prices, shipping lanes and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection clearance process for strategic minerals.
Strategic outlook
For policymakers, the episode serves as an object lesson in the gap between legislative intent and operational reality. The Defense Production Act can inject significant capital, but capital alone cannot compress environmental reviews or substitute for infrastructure absent from remote terrains. Analysts note that the Department of Energy’s lithium and rare-earth initiatives have faced parallel delays, suggesting a broader pattern confronting U.S. attempts to decouple from foreign critical-mineral supply chains.
Comparisons are inevitable with Canada and Australia, where federal and provincial coordination has shortened the interval between discovery and first pour for several battery-metal projects. In Alaska, overlapping jurisdictions—state land agencies, borough planning boards, federal transportation regulators—extend project timelines even when political support is strong.
Still, setbacks do not equate to failure. USAC’s contractual relationship with the Defense Logistics Agency guarantees an offtake market once logistics are ironed out, and Nova’s strategic grant reduces the financing risk that often cripples early-stage refineries. If both entities can synchronize mine output with processing capacity by late 2027, the United States could secure a domestic antimony foothold that eluded past generations.
What to watch next
Industry watchers will focus on three near-term milestones:
- Resolution of USAC’s transport permits, which would allow bulk shipments from Fairbanks to Montana by rail and truck.
- Completion of Nova’s detailed engineering study for the Port MacKenzie refinery, a prerequisite for the release of the next tranche of Defense Production Act funds.
- Any binding commitment to import Pakistani concentrates, a move that could test public support for a project premised on U.S. self-reliance.
In the interim, both companies continue to characterize the delays as temporary turbulence rather than existential threats. Whether that optimism is borne out will hinge less on the global antimony price than on the speed with which bureaucratic gears turn in Juneau, Washington and Anchorage.
The stakes extend well beyond Alaska’s borders. A homegrown supply chain would give U.S. policymakers a rare victory in the broader campaign to localize production of critical minerals. Conversely, prolonged setbacks could reinforce arguments that the nation’s permitting structure is fundamentally misaligned with its strategic ambitions—an issue likely to surface in congressional hearings and upcoming election-year debates on resource security.
Sources
- https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/story/2026/01/09/news/alaska-antimony-supply-chain-growing-pains/9423.html
