$43.4 Million U.S. Grant Supports Alaska Antimony Supply Chain

Key Facts

A $43.4 million U.S. grant supports Nova Minerals’ project to develop a domestic antimony supply chain in Alaska, as the company targets first production of the metal in 2027. The grant is under the Defense Production Act, according to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But a company filing dated October 8 said the start of construction on the processing and refining facility was contingent on obtaining the remaining permits. In Alaska, the Department of Environmental Conservation recorded air quality permit application AQ2002MSS01 for an antimony ore processing facility at Port Mackenzie and opened the public comment period from September 14 to October 14, 2026. The end of the comment period does not, by itself, confirm final approval; the announcement of approvals attributed to October 27 could not be verified against its official text. Completion of the permits therefore remains a stated condition for construction to begin, while the 2027 date remains the company’s target.

The company plans for the Port Mackenzie facility’s first phase to produce antimony metal and military-grade antimony trisulfide. It said the plant’s modular design allows operations to expand over time, linking initial development to the potential for increased production later without specifying a timetable or scale for that expansion. The company describes the $43.4 million grant as support for developing an integrated domestic antimony supply chain in Alaska. It also said the metal was designated a strategic national and economic security priority because of its uses in defense, energy storage and advanced electronic applications. This characterization places the project among efforts to secure domestic supplies of a metal the company says has applications across multiple sectors, without implying that the funding covers all of Nova Minerals’ activities. The grant dates to October 2025, according to the earlier filing, while a subsequent company filing described it as support for the project.

The company says processing and refining equipment arrived at Port Mackenzie in shipments during September and October 2026. An initial shipment weighing about 500 tons arrived on September 6, followed by more than 40 containers that reached the port that month. The company said the final shipment included two ball mills, a jaw crusher, a feeder and hydraulic filter presses. It also reported that the main equipment arrived at the port on October 6. The shipments provide components for the processing and refining facility the company is preparing to build, but the same filing kept the start of construction contingent on receipt of the remaining permits. Site preparations are therefore advancing alongside the regulatory process, while the equipment’s arrival alone does not establish that construction has begun or that production is imminent.

For the plant’s initial feedstock, Nova Minerals said it extracted 100 tons of antimony ore at Stibium during the 2026 field season. It said the ore was set aside as initial feedstock for processing and refining operations at Port Mackenzie after the plant is completed. That means the company has collected an initial quantity for later use at the facility, not that the plant has begun processing ore. In exploration, the company said its 2026 diamond drilling program at Estelle reached about 8,000 meters and was completed, with samples sent for analysis. It said three diamond drill rigs operated around the clock, seven days a week, between June and September. The sample and assay results remain part of the field work, according to the information provided, while the plant’s operating path is focused on completing permits and construction.

Chief Executive Christopher Gerteisen said favorable fall conditions provide a suitable window for earthworks and construction, adding that activities “will continue through the winter months.” The company links this schedule to seasonal working conditions in Alaska, but had made the start of facility construction contingent on receipt of the remaining permits. The target of first antimony production in 2027 remains the stated target date, not a confirmed production start date. Nova Minerals shares, trading under the ticker NVA, closed at $2.98 on October 26, 2026, according to EL7 data. Previous closes were $3.13 on October 20, $3.22 on October 21, $3.07 on October 22 and $2.87 on October 23. The October 26 close was therefore higher than the October 23 session, after falling from the October 21 close; the available data do not include intraday trading ranges.