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Why NevGold's 53.7% Antimony Surface Grade Matters to US Supply
NevGold's Pre-Strip Dump grades up to 53.7% antimony surface, with six samples over 10%. The discovery arrives as US policy targets China's antimony dominance. Sector read-through inside.
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A pile of waste rock left behind by a gold miner in 1990 is now the highest-grade antimony surface sample in the United States. NevGold Corp. (TSXV: NAU) (OTCQX: NAUFF) (Frankfurt: 5E50) sampled the Pre-Strip Dump at its Golden Butte project in Nevada and reported grades up to 53.7% antimony, with six samples above 10% and fourteen samples above 2%. The material sits at surface, already excavated, requiring no drilling to confirm its presence.
That grade changes the math for a metal the US government is desperate to source outside China. The article walks through what the discovery means for NevGold, the antimony supply chain, and the sector of US critical mineral developers now competing for policy support.
The 53.7% Antimony Surface Sample That Reshapes the Pre-Strip Dump Math
Sample LRSUD-27 returned 53.71% antimony – more than half the rock by weight is the metal. Five other samples ran between 11.89% and 35.62%. The Pre-Strip Dump is not a drill target. It is a pile of overburden stripped from a gold operation in 1989–1990 and left unprocessed. NevGold sampled it and found antimony concentrations that rival or exceed typical mill feed at operating mines.
Several samples also carried gold credits, which could improve project economics if NevGold can recover both metals. The company has not yet published metallurgical work. The grade distribution – consistent across fourteen samples above 2% – suggests the mineralisation is not a single outlier.
Antimony's China Bottleneck: From Ban to Suspension to Perpetua Loan
Antimony has no easy substitute in flame retardants, military munitions, night-vision optics, and next-generation batteries. China historically controlled the majority of global mining, refining, and processing. In December 2024, Beijing escalated export controls into an outright ban on antimony shipments to the United States. The ban drove Western antimony prices to record highs through 2024 and into mid-2025.
On November 9, 2025, China suspended that ban – only through November 27, 2026. The metal remains on China's dual-use export-control list, meaning shippers still need licenses from Beijing. Prices have eased from their 2025 peak since the suspension. They remain multiples above pre-2024 levels. The supply chain is open on a timer, at China's discretion.
Washington is moving to close the gap. On May 21, 2026, the Export-Import Bank of the United States approved a US$2.9 billion loan to Perpetua Resources for its Stibnite gold-antimony project in Idaho – the only large-scale domestic antimony reserve currently advancing toward production. The loan signals that the US government is willing to write large cheques for domestic antimony supply.
Why the US Antimony Sector Requires Multiple Domestic Projects
NevGold publicly congratulated Perpetua on the EXIM loan. The reason is strategic: a single project, however large, does not close America's antimony gap. As NevGold framed it, advanced US antimony projects need to co-exist to achieve genuine mineral independence.