Perpetua Resources, an Idaho-based mining company, has won a $24.8 million award from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Industrial Base Policy as part of its effort to obtain an American source of critical minerals for missiles and munitions.
The award will enable Perpetua to conduct environmental and engineering studies required to receive a Final Environmental Impact Statement, a Final Record of Decision and other necessary permits, the Department of Defense announced on Monday.
“The Department’s DPA Investments Program is delivering on its core mission to restore domestic industrial capabilities essential to the national defense by enabling the warfighter,” emphasized Halimah Najieb-Locke, deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial base resilience.
Issued through the office’s Defense Production Act Investments Program and Air Force Executive Agent, Perpetua’s win represents the first award under the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Fund.
The investment is necessary for the rapid development of a domestic source of antimony trisulfide for manufacturing small arms and medium caliber cartridges along with other missile and munition products.
“This action reinforces the Administration’s goals to increase the resilience of our critical mineral supply chains while deterring adversarial aggression,” Najieb-Locke added.
Perpetua has provided the federal government with mineral resources for decades. The company’s Stibnite-Gold Project supplied antimony trisulfide for the U.S. ammunition industrial base during both World War II and the Korean War. The project is the single domestic geologic reserve of antimony able to meet Department of Defense needs.
Currently, the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Perpetua’s Stibnite-Gold Project is in a 75-day public comment period that will end on January 10.
To support national defense and homeland security initiatives, the DPA Investments Program aims to ensure the present and future availability of domestic industrial resources. In collaboration with the military, other federal agencies and the private sector, the program is intended to determine areas in which critical industrial capacity is underperforming and provide grants, purchase commitments, loans or loan guarantees to promote the industrial development of these areas.
