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    Canada’s antimony gap and New Polaris: project and processing lessons for miners

    April 17, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Canada’s antimony gap and New Polaris: project and processing lessons for miners

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    War with Iran has pushed antimony’s defence role into focus, yet Canada still has no antimony-specific strategy despite classifying the metal as critical and committing more than C$3.6 billion to broad critical minerals funds. Canagold’s New Polaris in British Columbia, with 5,173 tonnes of contained antimony and testwork producing a 59.1% Sb concentrate at 93.1% recovery, is Canada’s most advanced project but receives no antimony revenue in its feasibility and has been denied federal funding. Earlier-stage efforts such as Antimony Resources’ Bald Hill (10,000 metres drilled, three rigs turning) and Critical One Energy’s 30 km-long Howells Lake belt face the added hurdle of no North American processing route for future concentrate.

    Technical Brief

    • USGS data show 40% of US antimony consumption goes into antimonial lead and ammunition.
    • Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite gold–antimony project in Idaho has secured over US$80 million in Pentagon support.
    • Export Import Bank of the United States has advanced a proposed loan facility for Stibnite.
    • New Polaris’ current feasibility indicates C$425 million after-tax NPV (US$2,500/oz gold) and 30.9% IRR.
    • Initial capex for New Polaris is estimated at C$250 million, excluding any antimony revenue contribution.
    • New Polaris environmental assessment application was filed on 1 April, with permitting reportedly on schedule.
    • Antimony Resources’ Bald Hill project has three rigs operating and ~10,000 metres of drilling completed to date.
    • Critical One Energy has budgeted C$9 million for 2026 work at Howells Lake, including multi-zone drilling.

    Our Take

    The New Polaris feasibility metrics (C$425 million after-tax NPV, 30.9% IRR on C$250 million capex) place it in the upper tier of gold projects in our database, which could give Canagold more leverage when arguing that antimony by-product credits justify priority treatment under Canada’s critical minerals framework.

    Howells Lake’s 30 km district-scale strike and C$9 million current-year budget stand out in our antimony coverage, signalling that northwestern Ontario is emerging as Canada’s main greenfield antimony search space, in contrast to the more mature gold-centric projects in British Columbia and New Brunswick.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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