Almost 500 tons of crushing, ore sorting, milling, flotation, and refining equipment departed Seattle on August 26, 2026, aboard a barge bound for Nova Minerals’ processing site at Port MacKenzie, Alaska. The barge is expected to arrive Monday, September 7.
The development of the Nova Minerals Port MacKenzie antimony refinery is fully funded by a $43.4 million award from the U.S. Department of War. The refinery will support the establishment of a domestic antimony supply chain— currently dominated by China— with first production targeted for 2027. Antimony is a critical mineral used in military technology, flame retardants, vehicle and industrial batteries, and semiconductors.
The shipment on its way to Alaska, comprising more than 40 containers and multiple oversized loads, is expected to arrive by early September, marking the culmination of six months of detailed planning, procurement, and logistics coordination. “A key part of our strategy has been to acquire existing, modern processing equipment and mobilize it to Alaska, rather than build new equipment from scratch. That decision allowed us to move faster and more cost-effectively as we construct our processing plant at Port MacKenzie and work toward first antimony production in 2027,” commented Nova Minerals CEO, Mr. Christopher Gerteisen.
The Port MacKenzie plant is designed to process stibnite-bearing material, initially into antimony trisulfide as part of the U.S. Department of War (DoW) project, and is modular and easily scalable for future expansion into additional saleable refined antimony products, including antimony metal and trioxide. Port MacKenzie also provides a strategic location with access to deepwater port infrastructure, the proposed West Susitna Access Road, and Port MacKenzie rail spur.
Upon completion of the DoW-funded project, the Nova Minerals Port MacKenzie antimony refinery is expected to serve as a strategic U.S. processing and toll-treatment facility capable of producing refined antimony products for defense, industrial, and critical technology supply chains.
Mr. Gerteisen expressed the importance of the project: “Antimony is a critical mineral essential to our national and economic security, with applications in defense, energy storage, and electronics. We are proud to be advancing a domestic supply chain that will help strengthen US critical minerals security.”
About Nova Minerals Corp
Nova Minerals Corp is advancing one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold deposits into production and securing a U.S. domestic supply of the critical mineral antimony. The company is focused on the exploration and development of the Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project, located in Alaska, a tier-one mining jurisdiction.
Estelle hosts two defined multi-million-ounce gold resources and more than 20 prospects distributed along a 35-kilometre mineralized trend in the prolific Tintina Gold Belt, a province that hosts a greater than 220 million-ounce (Moz) documented gold endowment and some of the world’s largest gold mines and discoveries, including Kinross Gold Corporation’s Fort Knox Gold Mine.
In parallel, Nova is advancing its critical minerals strategy, fully funded by a US $43.4 million U.S. Department of War award to develop a domestic antimony supply chain, targeted for production in late 2026/2027.
Further discussion and analysis of the Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project is available through the interactive Vrify 3D animations, presentations and videos, all available on the Company’s website. www.novamineralscorp.com.
Information used in this story was primarily provided in a press release by Nova Minerals. All images used in this story were provided by Nova Minerals.
