Nova Minerals gets final approvals for Alaska antimony project  

Nova Minerals (NYSE American: NVA | ASX: NVA) announced late Tuesday it has received final approvals from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for the plan of operations and reclamation plan for its Department of War funded antimony project, completing the project’s permitting process and clearing the way for construction and development activities.  

In 2025, Nova secured a land use permit for its proposed antimony refinery in Alaska. The permit covers 42.81 acres of commercial industrial zoned land near Port MacKenzie, an industrial hub designed as a bulk commodity export facility for industries, and the only port in the state with over 9,000 acres dedicated to commercial and industrial development and growth. 

The land use permit, the Australia-based company said, would allow it to establish downstream antimony processing and refining operations in Alaska’s Mat-Su Borough, an area with ready infrastructure for rapid development. The refinery site at Port Mac is strategically aligned with the fast-progressing West Susitna Access Road and other regional development projects currently underway, it said. 

Nova said it has secured all required permits within approximately three months of submission and can proceed with Phase 1 of its Alaska antimony development, advancing the establishment of the first modern, fully integrated U.S. domestic antimony supply chain in decades. 

The proposed refinery represents the next phase of Nova’s strategy of onshoring US antimony production by building a fully integrated, mine-to-processing production hub in Alaska. Its Port Mac facility is expected to produce a full range of antimony products, including antimony trisulfide, antimony trioxide and antimony metal, used by both the US military and in industrial applications.

Anchoring this strategy is the company’s district-scale, 10-million-oz. Estelle gold project. Historically, antimony mining in Alaska has been associated with its large gold deposits. The Estelle project is located within the Tintina gold belt known to host significant antimony deposits in the past and was once a supply of the mineral to the North American market.

Phase 1 is fully funded through $43.4 million in Department of War funding to support development of domestic production capacity for military-grade antimony trisulfide. 

Permits cover stibnite mining at the Styx and Stibium prospects, ore sorting and processing at the Whiskey Bravo concentration site within the Estelle project, and downstream processing and refining at Port Mackenzie. 

All major long-lead and critical mining and processing equipment has been procured and delivered; process plant engineering and metallurgical test work have established a flowsheet designed to produce military-grade antimony trisulfide and standard grade II antimony metal (>99.65% Sb). 

“Securing our final permits is a major milestone for Nova, moving our Alaska antimony project from development planning toward construction and targeted production in 2027,” Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen said in a news release. 

“In a relatively short period, we have secured $43.4 million in Department of War funding, completed the permitting process, advanced engineering and metallurgical test work, and delivered critical equipment to our project locations,” Gerteisen said. 

“With these key milestones achieved, our focus is now on execution. We believe the project has the potential to contribute to a more secure U.S. domestic antimony supply chain.”  

Nova Minerals stock closed the day up 6.7% Tuesday on the NYSE American. The company has a $121.4 million market capitalization.