Nova Minerals Completes Engineering and Design for Port MacKenzie Antimony Plant
A Sandvik QA440 double screen will be heading to Nova Minerals’ Whiskey Bravo site.
Photo Credit: Nova Minerals
The developer of a West Susitna mining project announced the completion of engineering and design for a processing plant at Port MacKenzie. Nova Minerals expects to begin construction this quarter, now that the pilot plant is fully funded.
The plant includes a crushing and sorting operation at Whiskey Bravo, a camp within the Estelle project where the antimony has been found. It also includes a Port MacKenzie beneficiation plant, Port MacKenzie refinery, and supporting infrastructure.
Down Under Becomes Domestic
The Estelle project, in the headwaters of the Skwentna River about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, is where Australia-based Nova is exploring for gold and antimony, which are frequently found together.
Although Nova began as an Australian company, it announced in February that, with a majority of its shares being held by US investors at the end of 2025, it would redomicile the company to the US and become a domestic company, complying with the US securities laws, effective in July. The move opens doors to lower-cost US equity capital, a broader US investor pool, and to further grants, funding and investments from the US government, where the company has already gained favor.
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A five-step refining process will take place at Port MacKenzie. The plant is designed to be expanded if needed.
Photo Credit: Nova Minerals
The company estimates Estelle holds two multi-million-ounce gold resources, but the antimony is a more pressing find. Nova received a $43.4 million award from the US Department of War to develop a near-term domestic antimony supply chain, as the mineral is important for numerous military uses, from hardening lead in armor-piercing bullets to producing night-vision goggles and creating the flame-retardant used for military uniforms and tents.
The pilot plant is a critical first step in fast-tracking domestic antimony production in Alaska. With a modular design that enables future expansion through additional refining circuits, including antimony trioxide and antimony metal production, the facility will serve as a scalable processing hub for feedstock from Estelle, as well as regional and global projects.
A ball mill will pulverize crushed ore into a fine powder.
Photo Credit: Nova Minerals
Nova capitalized on a unique opportunity to acquire equipment from a recently decommissioned, modern mineral processing circuit with a limited operating history from a North American processing facility. The equipment is suited to the proposed antimony pilot plant flowsheet and is expected to reduce procurement lead times, improve capital efficiency, and reduce the time needed to progress to production.
“We continue to make rapid progress on the antimony project and remain ahead of schedule with another major milestone now completed. The engineering and design plan has been developed based on extensive metallurgical test work and process flowsheet development. With this work complete, and procurement of key equipment now finalized, the project has entered the execution phase. Ore extraction and construction of the process plant are next steps as we continue progressing toward near-term antimony production,” says Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen.
With engineering and design complete, Nova is preparing for construction, with more than forty containers en route to Port MacKenzie in the coming weeks.
An ore sorter will be stationed at both the Whiskey Bravo site in the Estelle project and at Port MacKenzie for further sorting.
Photo Credit: Nova Minerals
Once production begins, Nova expects it to go smoothly. After collecting bulk sample material from the Stibium and Styx prospects within the Estelle Project claims, the material will be transported to Whiskey Bravo for crushing and initial sorting.
Select sample material will then be transported by air or snow road to Port MacKenzie for further processing, which will include concentration and refining the antimony ore using a proprietary cleaner hydrometallurgical processing method to make the final antimony trisulfide product. The refined antimony product will then be filtered, dried, and bagged for shipment.
This summer, Nova (not to be confused with Donlin Gold developer NOVAGOLD) launched one of its largest field and development programs to date, with a goal of drilling up to 10,000 meters and focusing on high-priority infill and expansion targets and advancement of antimony prospects.
Flotation cells at the Port MacKenzie antimony processing facility, where ore will be concentrated and refined, then filtered, dried, and bagged for shipment.
Photo Credit: Nova Minerals
