Perpetua Resources has been awarded $40-million in funding from the US Army’s Defence Ordnance Technology Consortium to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of producing tungsten concentrate at the historical Stibnite mining district in Idaho, the company announced on October 27, 2026.

The funding is structured as a cost-share programme between Perpetua and the US government. Perpetua will match the Army’s $40-million contribution. The initial 18-month phase is expected to cost $18-million, shared equally by the parties.

The programme will support drilling to define a potential tungsten mineral resource, collection of material for laboratory and bench-scale metallurgical testing, and permitting and engineering of an exploration decline to access areas of known tungsten mineralisation below the Hangar Flats pit.

There has been no commercial tungsten mining in the United States since 2015, leaving the country fully reliant on imports. The Stibnite district has a history of antimony and tungsten production, having supplied almost 50% of the tungsten and 90% of the antimony used by the US during World War II. Mining for both metals ended after the war, leaving identified mineralised material behind.

“The US Army’s additional investment in a historically proven American tungsten source at Stibnite underscores the growing strategic value of Stibnite’s mineral endowment and continues to strengthen the partnerships supporting Perpetua’s future,” said CEO and President Jon Cherry. “Historical production and recent exploration results suggest Stibnite has the potential to be one of the world’s highest-grade tungsten sources”.

Perpetua said recent drilling at the Hangar Flats deposit returned intercepts of 9.8 metres grading 4.6% tungsten and 8.3% antimony; 22.9 metres grading 1.2% tungsten and 3.2% antimony; and 3.4 metres grading 1.5% tungsten and 10.6% antimony.

The programme includes metallurgical testwork on an existing 550-kilogram sample compiled from prior exploration activities, grading about 9.2% antimony and 4.2% tungsten. Perpetua will also continue drilling to outline Hangar Flats’ gold resource, which contains about 1.37-million ounces and 95-million pounds of antimony that are not included in the current mine plan or reported mineral reserves.