Canada’s antimony gap and New Polaris: project and processing lessons for miners
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

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.
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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