Engineering and design work for Nova Minerals’ proposed Estelle antimony pilot plant has been completed, marking the project’s transition into the execution phase as the company advances plans for domestic antimony production in Alaska.
The fully funded pilot plant has been designed to support front-end processing at the Whiskey Bravo site and beneficiation and refining operations at Port MacKenzie. According to Nova Minerals, construction is expected to begin this quarter, with procurement of major process plant equipment already underway and key components either delivered or in transit.
The engineering and design package covers the Whiskey Bravo front-end processing site, the Port MacKenzie beneficiation plant, refinery and supporting infrastructure.
The pilot plant has been engineered to produce military-grade antimony trisulfide that meets U.S. Department of War quality specifications using what the company describes as a proprietary cleaner hydrometallurgical processing method.
Nova Minerals said the modular facility has been designed as the first stage in establishing a fully integrated domestic antimony supply chain in the United States. The design also allows for future expansion through the addition of refining circuits capable of producing antimony trioxide and antimony metal.
The company said the facility is intended to serve as a scalable processing hub for feedstock from the Estelle Project, as well as regional and global projects.
With engineering and design complete, the project has entered the execution phase.
Major equipment procurement is progressing, with more than 40 containers currently en route to Port MacKenzie for delivery in the coming weeks.
Nova Minerals also secured key equipment from a recently decommissioned modern beneficiation circuit at a North American processing facility. According to the company, the equipment has a limited operating history and is well suited to the proposed pilot plant flowsheet.
The acquisition is expected to reduce procurement lead times, improve capital efficiency and accelerate the project’s transition from engineering into construction and operational readiness.
The integrated pilot plant has been designed to process stibnite-bearing material and produce an antimony trisulfide product suitable for sale or further downstream processing.
Operations will be split across two locations.
At the Whiskey Bravo site, front-end processing will include crushing, screening, ore sorting, concentrate storage and load-out.
Bulk sample material collected from the Stibium and Styx areas within the Estelle Project claims will first be transported to Whiskey Bravo for crushing and initial sorting before selected material is moved by air or snow road to Port MacKenzie.
At the Port MacKenzie processing facility, the ore will undergo crushing, screening, ore sorting, beneficiation, refining, product recovery and associated utility and reagent processes before being refined using the company’s proprietary cleaner hydrometallurgical process.
The final antimony trisulfide product will then be filtered, dried and bagged for shipment.
Christopher Gerteisen, Chief Executive Officer of Nova Minerals Corp., said the completion of engineering and design represented another significant milestone for the project.
“We continue to make rapid progress on the antimony project and remain ahead of schedule, with another major milestone now completed.
The engineering and design plan has been developed based on extensive metallurgical test work and process flowsheet development. With this work complete, and procurement of key equipment now finalized, the project has entered the execution phase.
Ore extraction and construction of the process plant are next steps as we continue progressing toward near-term antimony production.”
