Locksley Resources forms US alliances to establish domestic antimony supply chain

[Redator]

Locksley Resources (ASX: LKY / OTCQB: LKYRF) announced Tuesday it has engaged Washington D.C.-based strategic advisory group GreenMet to support the advancement of its Mojave project in Inyo County, California.

On Monday, the Australia-based critical minerals explorer said it had secured $6 million cash from a heavily oversubscribed placement to fund near-term exploration programs focused on antimony and rare earth elements (REE) at Mojave.  

The project is located 1.4 km from MP Materials’ Mountain Pass mine, the only active rare earths mine in the US, and the company said it offers a strategic opportunity to secure domestic antimony and rare earth supplies.

The project includes the Desert antimony prospect, with historic high-grade samples up to 46% antimony, and the El Campo rare earth prospect, where recent rock chip assays returned up to 12.1% total rare earth oxides.

Locksley said it is positioning to establish the first domestic antimony mine-to market secure supply chain in the United States, addressing a critical gap where currently 90-95% of refined supply comes from countries outside the US alliance network.  

Antimony is vital for military applications and ammunition, batteries and semiconductors. There is currently no domestic antimony source, and 90% of world supply is controlled by China and Russia, an untenable narrative when it comes to sourcing minerals crucial to North America’s supply chain. 

GreenMet will position the Mojave project within key U.S. Government initiatives under the Defense Production Act, Inflation Reduction Act and Department of Energy programs. The firm is led by Drew Horn, a former US official on strategic minerals and energy supply chain development. 

The company said it has obtained Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approvals for expanded drilling programs the at the Desert antimony mine and El Campo REE prospect, with drilling scheduled to start in September 2025. 

Locksley also said it has struck an alliance with Houston-based Rice University to pioneer domestic antimony processing and advanced materials research in the United States – a move that the company said could position it at the heart of America’s push to rebuild its antimony supply chain from scratch.