Federal officials are poised to sign off on the construction of one of the nation’s largest silver, gold and antimony mines in Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains — a strategic move that will help counter China’s looming export restrictions but has drawn the ire and concern of a local tribe.
The Forest Service is planning to publish a decision Friday in the Federal Register that authorizes Perpetua Resources’ 2021 plan to build the Stibnite mine project — which consists of three open-pit mines — as part of a final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision.
The government’s decision to authorize the project, which is in line to receive a hefty amount of federal support, arrives mere days before China’s restrictions on exports of antimony, a critical mineral, are set to take hold. Antimony, a silvery-white metal, is used in a host of military applications but is also being eyed in the renewable energy sector for liquid metal battery technologies that could help connect a larger amount of wind and solar power to the grid.
Today, the U.S. has no active mines producing the metal.
