Felix Gold’s Treasure Creek project emerges as a near-term domestic source of this defense-critical metalloid.
For more than a century, America has turned to the stibnite veins cutting across Treasure Creek north of Fairbanks, Alaska, when it needed a strategic supply of antimony. With global prices surging and U.S. policymakers prioritizing secure domestic sources, Felix Gold Ltd. is advancing plans to reestablish this historic mining district as a modern feedstock for a metal essential to defense and clean energy technologies.
“With record antimony prices and a clear U.S. policy push for secure, domestic supply, we couldn’t be better placed,” Felix Gold Executive Director Joe Webb said in June. “What we’re doing now is moving with intent – trenching, drilling, environmental and engineering work – to assess the viability of getting this project into production in the near term.”
The urgency behind Felix’s push is rooted in four interrelated realities:
• Roughly 50 million pounds of antimony are required in the U.S. each year for military and consumer goods.
• There are currently no antimony mines in the U.S.
• China, Tajikistan, and Russia control more than 90% of global supply.
• Beijing banned exports to the U.S. at the end of 2024.
From munitions and night-vision optics to solar panel glass, energy storage, and semiconductors, antimony is embedded in America’s most critical supply chains. The combination of strategic need and supply disruption has Washington looking hard at domestic sources.
Treasure Creek, a property that hosts historical mines that delivered supplies of antimony during both World Wars, is a top candidate to meet America’s current strategic needs.
Scrafford, the largest of the historic Treasure Creek mines, delivered an estimated 2.4 million pounds of antimony from high-grade stibnite – an antimony mineral – during intermittent operations from 1915 to 1977.
“Against the backdrop of China’s export ban and tightening global supply, the strategic nature of this asset is clearly evident,” said Webb upon the release of drill results that confirm the high-grade nature and extent of the veins protruding from the hillside at Treasure Creek.
The strategic value of this road-accessible project has become even more evident with the results of Felix Gold’s exploration and development efforts rolling in.
High-grade antimony confirmation
With the goal of establishing a small mining operation reminiscent of a rock quarry that could deliver supply chain-significant quantities of antimony by early 2026, Felix has drilled 90 holes to outline the antimony resource across a roughly 220-by-100-meter area of the Treasure Creek property.
Results from the first 30 holes of this program provide insights into the high-grade nature of this emerging antimony deposit. Highlights include:
• 4.3 meters averaging 7.38% antimony from a depth of 26.2 meters in hole 25TCDC0002.
• 15.7 meters averaging 5.1% antimony from a depth of 37.6 meters in hole 25TCDC0004.
• 7.6 meters averaging 2.96% antimony from a depth of 56.4 meters in hole 25TCRC027.
These intercepts are extensions of veins protruding to the surface with grades as high as 50.26% antimony over three meters.
This year’s drilling also discovered a new breccia, which is rock composed of broken rock fragments cemented together with fine-grained materials (similar to concrete), enriched with high-grade antimony.
“These results reinforce our strategy of assessing the viability of near-term antimony production,” said Webb.
Federal reinforcement
Felix’s strategy to deliver high-grade antimony into U.S. supply chains by early 2026 was further reinforced by senior representatives from the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who visited Treasure Creek during a tour of Alaska that included the signing of a first-of-its-kind permit streamlining pact with the state.
“Critical mineral projects are a top priority for the Trump Administration. I appreciate the Felix Gold team giving us a first-hand look into their work,” said Emily Domenech, executive director of the Permitting Council, which oversees the administration of streamlined permitting under the FAST-41 program. “Our visit helps us understand how the Permitting Council can best support timely reviews of this important antimony project, as we work to develop a stronger domestic supply chain for critical minerals while reducing our reliance on China.”
While on the property, the federal permitting officials were able to see for themselves the ten-foot-thick veins of antimony ready to be dug up and fed into American supply chains.
“During their visit, federal agencies provided feedback that Treasure Creek is one of the most infrastructure-ready and well-serviced projects at near shovel-ready status that they have visited, highlighting our extensive baseline studies, proactive community consultation, and advanced yet small-scale potential design – a project capable of delivering meaningful outcomes for the United States,” he said.
Toward a U.S. supply chain
While Treasure Creek – along with high-grade Alaska projects being advanced by United States Antimony Corp. and Nova Minerals Ltd. – could provide ore in the near term, the U.S. still lacks the domestic capacity to upgrade that ore into refined antimony metal.
Recognizing this, Felix has begun engineering and site selection discussions with the federal government on a smelter that could anchor a vertically integrated antimony supply chain.
“In parallel, engineering has commenced on U.S. smelting facilities with site selection discussions with the U.S. Government underway,” said Webb.
If development stays on track, Felix anticipates Treasure Creek could begin delivering antimony into American supply chains as soon as the first quarter of 2026 – helping to close a strategic gap exposed by China’s export ban and positioning Alaska as a frontline supplier of a metal essential to both national security and clean energy.