Nova Minerals’ Pakistan antimony talks: supply and project context for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Nova Minerals has played down a Financial Times report that it agreed to buy over 100 tonnes of Pakistani antimony concentrates for about $2 million in early 2026, saying talks with a local partner were only “preliminary” and “exploratory”. The clarification came as Nova’s shares rose more than 6% in New York, valuing the company at about $396 million, while it pushes ahead with a feasibility study on its Estelle gold project in Alaska, a 500 km² claim block in the Tintina Gold Belt. Estelle currently hosts nearly 10 million oz. of gold across four large, near-surface intrusion-related deposits along a 35 km corridor, with associated antimony mineralisation underpinning plans for an Alaska-based mining and refining hub for military‑grade antimony trisulphide backed by $43.4 million in US Defense Production Act funding.
Technical Brief
- Financial Times reported a proposed purchase of >100 tonnes of Pakistani antimony concentrates for ~US$2 million.
- Nova’s 5 January statement characterises these Pakistan sourcing talks as “preliminary” and “exploratory”, not a binding offtake.
- Estelle covers >500 km² of state mining claims in Alaska’s Tintina Gold Belt, indicating district‑scale development potential.
- Twenty prospects have been delineated on Estelle, including four large, near‑surface intrusion‑related gold deposits along a 35 km corridor.
- Combined gold resources at Estelle are “nearly 10 Moz”, positioning mine planning towards bulk‑tonnage, low‑grade open pit scenarios.
- Government data cite antimony ore shipments from at least 25 Alaskan deposits between 1905–1986, evidencing historic processing and logistics pathways.
- US commercial antimony production ceased in 2016, so any Alaska hub would displace 100% import reliance for this metal.
- A proposed Alaska mining and refining hub would target military‑grade antimony trisulphide, implying tight impurity and grain‑size specifications.
Our Take
Antimony shows up far less often than gold in our 154 keyword-matched pieces, so Nova Minerals being linked to potential antimony offtake underscores how critical-mineral angles are starting to attach even to primarily gold-focused projects like Estelle in Alaska.
With the US having no commercial antimony production since 2016 but historically shipping ores from at least 25 deposits in Alaska, any credible antimony by-product story at Estelle would likely attract US strategic funding interest similar to other Defense Production Act-backed critical mineral plays in our database.
Nova Minerals’ roughly US$396 million market capitalisation sits in the mid-tier of gold names in our Mining coverage, meaning even a relatively small antimony revenue stream (on the order of the reported US$2 million concentrate parcel) could be material to sentiment and valuation if repeated or scaled.
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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