After obtaining the necessary permits from the Department of Environmental Quality earlier this month, United States Antimony has initiated exploration and bulk sampling operations at Stibnite Hill, which is located adjacent to the company’s Thompson Falls, Mont., smelter.
“Earlier this year, we began the process of acquiring mineral leases and actual real property purchases in and around the Stibnite Hill mine, previously operated and mined by the company over 20 years ago,” explained Joe Bardswich, executive vice president and chief mining engineer for US Antimony.
“Once the necessary permits were obtained from the DEQ this month, we began our exploration efforts. Those have resulted in our first four loads of raw antimony ore for our existing operations to begin processing this year. While we fully expected our first actual product from the company to come from our Alaska operations, the delay in permit approvals in that state for approximately five months allowed Montana to be first. This achievement now makes United States Antimony Corporation the first company in the world to be fully integrated from mining operations to finished products of antimony.”
Antimony ore has now been trucked off the mountain to a flotation mill in Montana for crushing and sampling prior to further review by a metallurgical chemist. Management is highly encouraged due to the high quality of the material, according to US Antimony.
Source: US Antimony