Use Of Defense Production Act For Battery Metals

BOISE, ID - Perpetua Resources Corp. reported that the government has deemed domestic mining of critical minerals for large-capacity storage batteries essential to America's national security and instructed the U.S. Department of Defense to secure the supply of battery metals through the authorities granted by the Defense Production Act (DPA). Perpetua Resources' proposed gold and antimony project in Idaho, the Stibnite Gold Project, would provide the only domestically mined source of the critical mineral antimony which is essential for liquid metal, large-capacity battery technology.

“These actions underscore the need to swiftly and significantly increase domestic production of antimony and other critical minerals essential to securing our clean energy future," said Laurel Sayer, President and CEO. "Prioritizing responsible mineral development is a clear recognition that serious action is needed to address the vulnerabilities associated with energy and mineral dependence. A resilient and diversified energy grid will require the support of a wide variety of battery technologies and associated minerals. Antimony based battery technologies offer an alternative in the market and their inclusion in the mix of energy storage options will help limit overreliance on any one critical mineral."

In 2021, Perpetua entered into a long-term partnership agreement with Ambri, an American company developing an antimony-based liquid metal battery which is designed to provide affordable and reliable grid-scale storage to facilitate the decarbonization of energy grids. Under the agreement, antimony from the Stibnite Gold Project is expected to power over 13 Gigawatt hours of energy storage which is equivalent to over 8 times the total additions to the U.S. energy storage market in 2020 and enough to power approximately 1 million American homes with solar power on a daily basis over the anticipated 20+ year lifespan of the batteries. This partnership highlights the role modern mining can play in addressing some of the world's climate change challenges and directly links the restoration of the historical Stibnite mining district to achieving climate change solutions.

Presidential Determination No 2022-11 comes after weeks of mounting pressure from bipartisan congressional leaders calling for action to end foreign reliance on critical minerals. In a joint letter to the President, Senators Murkowski, Manchin, Risch and Cassidy urged the Administration to use the Defense Production Act to develop domestic critical mineral production to support national security and energy independence.

The Project is currently progressing into the later stages of the permitting process, and the Company anticipates the circulation of a preliminary Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement ("SDEIS") for cooperating agency review in the second quarter of 2022, with public release shortly thereafter in the third quarter of 2022.