USAC Reports On Operations
THOMPSON FALLS, MT - United States Antimony Corporation (USAC) reports on updates at operations. The first antimony metal sample made from Canadian raw materials arrived at Ambri at the end of January 2021. This sample passed initial inspection and was subsequently used in electrode fabrication. Several months later, Ambri ordered additional samples from both our Canadian and Mexican raw materials and reported they both worked well. Based on the positive outcomes of the tests with the earlier samples, Ambri placed a purchase order for a significantly larger quantity of antimony for use in regular cell builds, which was shipped in June.
Los Juarez/Puerto Blanco: Assays of tails pond samples from 35 holes spaced 20 meters apart averaged 0.29 gpt gold and 16.9 gpt silver. Although reprocessing of the tailings at the indicated grade may not be economic, USAC is evaluating the dilution of grade effect of a significant component of the tailings originating from processing of antimony ores from Guadalupe that contained no gold or silver.
At Bear River Zeolite the Company has purchased and installed a new hammer mill to replace its vertical shaft impactor crusher. This decision was made in order to increase production, (approximately doubling it). The crusher is being outfitted with input and discharge bins, gates, and a variable frequency drive to study the effects of crushing size distribution as a function of crushing speed. Installation was done while maintaining the primary line in production. In concert with this upgrade, the company is redesigning the dust collection system throughout the plant. In addition to increasing its production of ultra-fine product, this modification will improve the working environment for our plant employees, decrease shut-downs due to dust in electrical and mechanical equipment, and allow more precision in quality and control of product. Additionally, the company has hired Ward Thompson as an onsite manager and Lynn Hanson as a mechanic and auxiliary driller/blaster. Both positions have been sorely needed and position the company for dramatic improvements. Approximate sales tonnages of zeolite per month have been as follows: January 659, February 843, March 971, April 1,042, and May 1,248. Early summer typically corresponds to a decrease of sales and this increase is attributable in large part to the outstanding efforts of the company's new zeolite sales director Gretchen Lawrence.
Regarding Madero the Company has purchased 250 tons of antimony from its Mexican sources since restarting the smelter in Q1 of this year. It has shipped two trucks of crude oxide to its plant in Montana. Due to labor shortages in the US the company is focusing on producing finished oxide and metal from its smelter in Madero. Infrastructure updates as well as modification of furnacing procedures designed to decrease costs are underway. Preliminary results support the possibility of producing finished oxide in fewer furnacing steps. Improvements at its Madero smelter will be completed later this year.
In June of 2020, our first sample of antimony trisulfide for center fired ordnance primers made from Mexican feedstocks was approved by the DOD lab at the Piscatinny Arsenal, in Wharton, New Jersey after months of delay because of the lab closure due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the company has been producing and shipping lump antimony trisulfide made from recycled antimony sulfide fines. We recently received enough antimony sulfide concentrate from Mexico to produce the remaining five samples for the DLA. We expect delivery of two new large capacity furnaces during the last week of June for the production of those samples. These furnaces will increase US Antimony's production capacity of antimony trisulfide, used in primers for munitions, from about 100 lbs per day to about 300 lbs per day. Apart from sulfide ore sources in Mexico, the Company is investigating potential sources in Bolivia and Guatemala.
China, historically the sole supplier of lump antimony trisulfide has held back the export of antimony trisulfide, leading to a potential world-wide shortage.
Perpetua Resources: A laboratory sample from Perpetua Resources was received and analyzed. Preliminary indications are that the sulfide concentrate produced by Perpetua would probably not be feasible as a source of antimony trisulfide but would be ideal feedstock for processing into antimony metal and oxide at the Company's smelter in Mexico.