FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Aug. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An American company is set to refine Alaskan antimony ore into military-grade antimony metal in the United States - Frontier Antimony Refinery Corp. is a U.S. company incorporated in Delaware, and a wholly owned subsidiary of antimony developer Felix Gold.
Director of Frontier Antimony Refinery Joseph Webb said: "Antimony is a national security metal, and supply in America is greatly limited.
"Antimony hardens ammunition and armor, and goes into night-vision optics, flares, flame retardants and energy storage. No marketable antimony was mined in the United States between 2001 and 2024, and China's August 2024 export restrictions - followed by a ban on exports to the United States that December - are policy, not a market cycle.
"More than 85% of world antimony mine production comes from China, Russia and Tajikistan. Military-grade material - MIL-A-22131, 70% Sb or better - is scarce, and commodity antimony does not meet it.
"That grade is what Frontier is built to produce. America cannot buy what it needs. It must build it."
U.S. net import reliance for antimony was an estimated 91% of apparent consumption in 2025, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Antimony is identified as a critical mineral with limited domestic production under Executive Orders 14156 and 14241.
The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation has selected Felix Gold for award negotiations of up to $18 million, as one of nine projects that will recover critical minerals, materials and other valuable byproducts from industrial feedstocks. The award is intended for the capital cost of the Frontier refinery, subject to DOE approval.
Frontier is well advanced. Engineering design is substantially progressed and a site-selection study is complete. Ore is bulk-sample permitted and in extraction at Felix Gold's Treasure Creek project in Alaska, and in August 2026, the development reached a further milestone when Frontier's design flowsheet was demonstrated end-to-end under pilot plant conditions.
Frontier is building the refinery in the United States, with the site being finalized and operation targeted for the first half of 2028, subject to site selection and funding. Treasure Creek is the anchor feed, but the refinery will be open for business to third-party domestic and allied ore, so that the facility can serve the whole U.S. supply chain, from defense and semiconductors to energy storage, electric vehicles and industrial users. Location, capital cost and timing remain subject to the viability assessment.
Details and disclosures, including cautionary and forward-looking statements, can be viewed in Felix Gold's ASX announcements.
Register here for the Frontier Antimony Refinery webinar on August 27, 2026 at 9pm EDT/5pm AKDT, presented by Director of Frontier Antimony Refinery Joseph Webb.
