(MENAFN- Investor Ideas) Investorideas ( Newswire) a go-to platform for big investing ideas for traders, including mining and defense stocks, reports on how critical mineral antimony is gaining government and investor attention as its role in defense heats up, featuring Locksley Resources Ltd. (ASX: LKY,OTCQX: LKYRF, FSE: X5L), a company that specializes in critical minerals development within the United States.

News summary:

Investorideas highlights the surging investor and governmental interest in antimony, a critical mineral essential for defense technologies like armor-piercing ammunition, explosives, energy storage, and electronics, as classified by the US, Canada, and EU. Spotlighting Locksley Resources Ltd. (ASX: LKY, OTCQX: LKYRF, FSE: X5L), the company achieved a historic milestone by producing the first 100% American-made antimony ingot in decades, sourced from its Mojave Desert mine in California and refined domestically by Hazen Research Inc., validating a fully independent US mine-to-metal supply chain amid efforts to counter Chinese dominance. This breakthrough aligns with US Executive Orders for domestic critical mineral production and coincides with strengthened US-Australia ties, including Prime Minister Albanese's Washington visit; Locksley is now advancing pilot-scale operations, high-grade concentrate testing (68.1% antimony), and partnerships with advisors like GreenMet for permitting and funding. Meanwhile, United States Antimony Corporation (NYSE American: UAMY) secured a $245 million Defense Logistics Agency contract, boosting its stock 100%, proposed acquiring Larvotto Resources, and Nova Minerals (NASDAQ: NVA) received $43.4 million in DoD funding for antimony trisulfide production at its Alaska project, underscoring antimony's pivotal role in bolstering national security and industrial self-sufficiency.

While antimony has a wide array of uses, its contributions to national security, energy and manufacturing are currently grabbing the spotlight. The United States, Canada and the European Union have each classified it as a critical mineral, citing its essential applications in defense technologies (such as armor-piercing ammunition and explosives), energy storage systems, and electronics.

Withrecent news headlines that“United States Antimony Corporation(NYSE American:UAMY ) (NYSE Texas:UAMY)Awarded $245 Million Sole-Source Five-Year Contract by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency for the Purchase of Antimony Ingots to Replenish the U.S. National Defense Stockpile”, antimony is on a watch list globally. The stock has had a 100% gain in the past month.

Making its own headlines, Locksley Resources Ltd ( ASX: LKY, OTCQX: LKYRF, FSE: X5L) just announced a significant Company milestone with the production of a 100% American made antimony ingot, marking the return of the first US domestic antimony metal production in decades.

From the news:

The milestone represents proof-of-concept for a fully American mine to-metal supply chain, from ore sourced at the Company's Mojave Desert Antimony Mine in California, through to refining entirely within the US by Hazen Research Inc., one of the nation's most respected metallurgical and process development laboratories.

This breakthrough directly supports US government and Presidential Executive Orders aimed at re-establishing domestic production of critical minerals vital to defense, clean energy, and strategic manufacturing supply chains. Locksley is working closely with its strategic partners, and Washington D.C based advisors, GreenMet, to advance permitting and funding initiatives to support the next stage of the Company's commercialisation strategy.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Locksley produces 100% American made antimony ingot from Mojave
• Achievement validates the only known US mine-to-metal supply chain for antimony, fully independent of Chinese processing
• Ore sourced from the Company's Mojave Desert Antimony Mine in California and refined by Hazen Research Inc. in Colorado
• Milestone supports US Government initiatives to secure critical minerals essential for defense, energy, and advanced manufacturing
• Locksley is working closely with its strategic partners and Washington D.C advisors, GreenMet, to advance permitting and funding initiatives
• Locksley now advancing pilot-scale production to confirm scalability and targeting commercial supply to US defense and industrial sectors
• Breakthrough coincides with Australian Prime Minister Albanese's visit to Washington for meetings with President Trump, highlighting Australia's growing role in strengthening US critical minerals self sufficiency

Kerrie Matthews, Locksley CEO commented: Drew Horn, CEO of GreenMet, commented: Validation of a 100% American Mine-to-Market Supply Chain

This achievement demonstrates Locksley's commitment to delivering an antimony product sourced and refined entirely within the United States.

The breakthrough directly supports US government objectives to restore domestic critical mineral production. Locksley will work closely with strategic partners, including Washington, DC based advisors and GreenMet, to advance permitting and funding, supporting the next stage of the Company's commercialisation strategy and America's self-sufficiency in critical minerals.

Advancing Toward Pilot Scale Production

Following the successful validation of the first 100% American-made antimony ingot, Locksley Resources is now advancing towards pilot-scale production, a key step in confirming metallurgical recoveries, process efficiency, and scalability for future commercial supply.

The Company will work closely with industry partners and downstream consumers to ensure product specifications for both antimony trisulfide and antimony trioxide meet stringent US defense and industrial standards. This phase will also support offtake readiness and qualification as the leading US developer of domestically produced antimony metal.

This milestone firmly established Locksley as a pioneer in rebuilding America's antimony supply chain, aligning with ongoing US Government and Presidential Executive Orders that prioritise domestic sourcing and processing of critical minerals essential for defense, energy storage, and advanced manufacturing.

With one of the few known high-grade, primary antimony deposits in the continental United States, the Mojave Project offers a path to scaled production and a strategic alternative to Chinese controlled supply chains, reinforcing Locksley's role at the forefront of America's critical minerals independence.

Strategic Context: US and Australian Government Engagement

Locksley's milestone coincides with a significant step-up in bilateral critical minerals dialogue between the United States and Australia, underscored by Prime Minister Albanese's upcoming meeting with President Trump in Washington, DC. Recent government briefings and funding initiatives from both nations have underscored antimony's strategic importance and the shared objective of establishing secure, allied production capabilities.

As the first company to deliver a 100% American-made antimony ingot in decades, Locksley's achievement positions it at the forefront of this renewed trans-Pacific strategic effort to re-establish secure, allied supply chains for critical minerals, vital to defense, energy, and advanced manufacturing.

Next Steps

With proof-of-concept successfully achieved, Locksley is now transitioning from validation to pilot-scale and pre-commercial operations in the United States. The next phase of work will focus on scaling, refining, and positioning the Company for government and industry engagement:

• Scale-up to U.S based pilot plant operations: Establishing a domestic pilot facility to validate process efficiency, recoveries, and repeatability under commercial conditions.
• Detailed metallurgical interpretation and process flow-sheet optimisation: Utilise test data from Hazen Research to refine processing parameters and finalise design inputs for larger scale operations.
• Engagement with U.S. government and industrial partners: Advance discussions for offtake qualification, funding support, and strategic collaboration under existing national interest programs and defense supply chain programs.
• Commercial pathway planning: Progress engineering, permitting, and funding initiatives in collaboration with Washington D.C-based advisors GreenMet, as Locksley advances towards establishing a fully integrated, American controlled antimony production and processing capability.

Following the news, theSydney Morning Herald reported,“Locksley Resources has just etched its name into United States industrial history by pouring the first fully American-made antimony ingot in almost 10 years, placing the ASX-listed junior squarely in Washington's headlights as the country pushes for critical mineral self-sufficiency.”

Looking at recent news from United States Antimony Corporation (NYSE American:UAMY ) (NYSE Texas:UAMY), the Companyjust announced they submitted a confidential, non-binding, indicative proposal to acquire 100% of the share capital of Larvotto Resources Limited by way of a scheme of arrangement under the Australian Corporations Act 2001.

From the news:

Under the Proposal, Larvotto shareholders would receive Six (6) USAC shares for every One Hundred (100) Larvotto shares which represents a significant premium to (i) Larvotto's last equity capital raise announced on 25 July 2025 (ii) recent stock trading price ranges. The terms of the proposed transaction are subject to the negotiation and execution of a binding scheme implementation deed, Larvotto shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

USAC has recently acquired approximately 10.0% of Larvotto's total issued share capital with cash in the open market which USAC believes makes USAC Larvotto's largest single shareholder.

Another Australian dual listed antimony stock, Nova Minerals Limited (NASDAQ: NVA ) (ASX: NVA) (FRA: QM3), turned heads in the sector when itannounced recently that its 100% owned US subsidiary Alaska Range Resources, LLC (ARR), had been awarded US$43.4 million in Defense Production Act Title III funding by the US Department of War (DoW) to produce antimony trisulfide at its Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project (Estelle Project) in Alaska.

From the news:

The award will enable ARR to accelerate development of a fully integrated US antimony supply chain to extract, concentrate, and refine stibnite to produce military grade antimony trisulfide to assist in meeting the US defense industrial base demands.

Nova CEO, Mr. Christopher Gerteisen commented:“We are proud to have ARR partner with the U.S. Department of War to help secure a fully domestic, redundant supply chain for the munitions and other defense products our troops need to keep our nation and allies safe, as well as future supply to the US industrial base for a wide range of traditional and high-tech applications, including semiconductors and energy systems.

This award will fund the initial phase of the Company's strategy to establish a full spectrum state of the art antimony mining and refining hub based in Alaska to supply refined antimony products to the US industrial base and beyond. After conducting rigorous vetting and technical due diligence of the Estelle Project, ARR is proud to be the recipient of this award, which provides further confidence in the quality of antimony mineralization and highlights the potential scale and scope of future antimony production from the Estelle Project.”

Following Nova's news, Locksley Resources (ASX: LKY,OTCQX: LKYRF )announced that the company's advancing metallurgical test work program being conducted on surface samples collected from the Desert Antimony Mine (DAM) Prospect at the company's project in the Mojave Desert is producing concentrate grades believed to be significantly higher than comparable American projects (as reported in publicly available information from Perpetua (Nasdaq: PPTA ) (TSX: PPTA), Nova Minerals (NASDAQ: NVA ), US Antimony Corp (NYSE American:UAMY ), Costerfield and Hillgrove).

From the news:

According to early results, excellent high grade final flotation concentrate of 68.1% antimony has been achieved from first pass rougher/regrind/cleaner flotation tests. The concentrate is 95% of technical maximum stibnite grade of 71.68% showing minimal impurities, significantly exceeding marketable sales requirements of a minimum of 55%.

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