Perpetua Resources lands $2.9 billion U.S. loan for Stibnite mine

Perpetua Resources has obtained a $2.9 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, as Washington moves to lock in critical mineral supplies and loosen China's grip on vital supply chains.

The financing is the largest ever approved under EXIM's "Make More in America" initiative and ranks as the bank's fourth-largest loan on record. It will bankroll the company's Stibnite Gold project in Idaho, which will produce both gold and antimony. Antimony is crucial for defense uses--including munitions--as well as for semiconductor production and clean-energy technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines.

The U.S. Geological Survey classifies antimony as a critical mineral. No antimony mines are currently active in the United States, and China is the world's dominant supplier, meeting more than half of U.S. demand, according to the USGS.

Perpetua says the Stibnite site is the only domestic antimony source capable of fulfilling U.S. weapons-manufacturing needs, with the potential to cover roughly 35% of American demand within the first six years of output.