NevGold's Limo Butte delivers 0.32% antimony in all 17 holes from historic leach pad, shortening path to domestic supply as US policy capital seeks near-term production.
All 17 sonic drillholes at the historic Crushed leach pad at NevGold Corp.'s (TSXV: NAU) (OTCQX: NAUFF) (Frankfurt: 5E50) Limousine Butte project in Nevada returned oxide antimony and gold mineralization, including 0.32% antimony and 0.39 g/t gold over 14.9 meters. The material dates from 1989–1990 mining operations that never processed for antimony, sitting crushed and stacked for more than three decades. The drill results, announced May 14, 2026, advance one of the few near-term domestic antimony solutions in the United States – a country with zero operating primary antimony mines.
NevGold CEO Brandon Bonifacio commented: “With consistent oxide antimony and gold in all drillholes from the Crushed leach pad, Limo Butte is emerging as one of the most important Critical Minerals projects in the United States. The Project has a near-term opportunity to play a key role in establishing a vertically integrated, domestic antimony supply chain. We have oxide antimony mineralization at surface in the historic leach pads that is ready to be processed without large-scale mining activities.”
Antimony hardens armor-piercing rounds, sharpens night vision optics, primes ammunition, and sits inside flame retardants, lead-acid batteries, and semiconductors. The U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Defense, and Department of War each classify antimony as a top-priority Critical Mineral. China, Russia, and Tajikistan supply roughly 90% of global antimony mine output, with China controlling the downstream refining. The United States has no operating mine.
In December 2024, China imposed antimony export restrictions specifically targeting the United States. Those restrictions were suspended in November 2025 for a 12-month pause running through November 27, 2026. Licensing controls remain in place, meaning Beijing can reinstate full restrictions at any time. The structural supply problem persists: a single nation with a history of export weaponization holds the leverage.
Washington has spent the last 18 months directing federal capital toward a short list of advanced domestic antimony projects. On January 14, 2026, President Trump invoked Section 232 to negotiate agreements securing critical-mineral supply for the United States, with a 180-day reporting window. The Defense Production Act, the Department of War’s Industrial Base Consortium grants, FAST-41 permitting status, and EXIM Bank financing have all been deployed. The catch: most of the names attracting that capital are years from first metal. NevGold’s Limo Butte runs on a different clock because the material is already out of the ground.
Alongside NevGold, four other developers are attracting capital on the U.S.-aligned critical minerals thesis. Each faces a different timeline to production:
The read-through is clear: federal capital flows to the projects with the shortest path to first metal. NevGold’s surface material skips the mining phase entirely.
The Crushed leach pad was stacked in 1989–1990 during a sub-US$400/oz gold price environment. Antimony was never processed. CEO Bonifacio emphasized the mineralization is “ready to be processed without large-scale mining activities.” No new mine pit, no blasting, no haul roads – just re-processing through a mill or leach operation.
Most domestic antimony projects require full mine permitting, access road construction, and mill building. Even with FAST-41 acceleration, greenfield timelines exceed five years. NevGold’s Limo Butte is a brownfield site with existing infrastructure from the original gold operation. The path to near-term production is shorter, a distinction that matters when the Department of Defense writes checks for domestic supply.
NevGold has stated that Limo Butte can help establish a vertically integrated, domestic antimony supply chain. If the company secures offtake agreements or Defense Production Act Title III grants, the project could become a model for leveraging historic waste material into a strategic asset.
China’s 12-month suspension of antimony export restrictions runs through November 27, 2026. The licensing controls remain in place, meaning Beijing can reinstate full restrictions with little notice. If China tightens the valve again, spot antimony prices could spike, benefiting domestic producers. If China extends the suspension and U.S. procurement urgency fades, policy momentum may stall.
For traders tracking the critical minerals sector, the decision point is whether NevGold can convert drill results into a production timeline before China’s export-pause expires. The project’s brownfield nature and existing leach pad data give it one of the fastest routes to antimony output among the small U.S. peer group.
The next catalyst is any news on government funding, an offtake agreement, or a feasibility update that moves the project from assay results to development commitments. Until then, the sector readthrough depends on policy continuity: as long as federal capital targets domestic antimony production, the names with the shortest path to first metal command the premium. Investors should watch for Section 232 follow-through and any Department of War grant announcements before November 2026.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.