Australia's Nova Minerals gets US grant for antimony production at Alaska project

Oct 1 (Reuters) - Australian critical minerals explorer Nova Minerals NVA.AX said on Wednesday it had received a $43.4 million U.S. grant to produce antimony trisulfide at its Estelle project in Alaska, sending its shares to a more than two-and-a-half-year high.

The U.S. Department of Defense grant will allow Nova unit Alaska Range Resources to help with the development of a local supply chain to produce antimony trisulfide to meet demand from domestic defence-related companies.

The grant will go towards funding the initial phase of the company's strategy to establish an antimony mining and refinery hub in Alaska, Nova said in a statement.

"Antimony metal and antimony trisulfide have critical applications in munitions, especially low and medium caliber, where it is used in primer production and case hardening," Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Mike Cadenazzi said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to rename itself the Department of War, a change that will require action by Congress.

Shares of the company rose more than 45.5% in early trading, posting their biggest intraday percent gain since October 2021 and hitting their highest level since February 9, 2023. The benchmark stock index .AXJO was trading up 0.1%.