NevGold Unearths Critical Antimony Find in Nevada Amid Global Squeeze

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – February 18, 2026 – As global supply chains for critical minerals fray under geopolitical pressure, exploration company NevGold Corp. has announced a significant high-grade gold and antimony discovery at its Limousine Butte project in Nevada. The discovery of a new structure, dubbed the “Armory Fault,” has yielded impressive drill results and validates a new geological model that could dramatically expand the project's potential, positioning it as a key future domestic source for one of the Pentagon's most sought-after strategic metals.

In a statement, NevGold revealed that a step-out drillhole intercepted a substantial zone of mineralization, including 8.51 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEq) over 10.6 meters. This high-grade section, containing 8.11 g/t gold and 0.10% antimony, was found within a much larger mineralized envelope of 2.32 g/t AuEq over 86.8 meters. The discovery is being hailed by the company as a pivotal moment for the project, located in a prolific mining district in eastern Nevada.

A "Transformational" Discovery in the Nevada Desert

The breakthrough centers on the identification of the Armory Fault, a previously un-modeled geological feature that appears to be a primary control for high-grade mineralization at the project's Bullet Zone. According to the company, every drill hole from its recent program targeting this zone has hit significant oxide gold-antimony mineralization, a testament to the accuracy of its new exploration thesis.

“The discovery of the Armory Fault at the Bullet Zone is transformational from an exploration standpoint, as it identifies what is thought to be a key structural control of high-grade oxide gold-antimony mineralization,” said NevGold CEO Brandon Bonifacio in a press release. “Our geological model testing the ‘under the upper dolomite’ target concept has been validated as we have intercepted significant gold-antimony mineralization in every single drillhole at the Bullet Zone.”

This new model upends previous interpretations of the area's geology. Earlier explorers believed the prospective host rock, the Pilot Shale, had been eroded away. NevGold’s technical team theorized that an older dolomite rock unit was thrust over the Pilot Shale, preserving it at depth and creating a perfect trap for mineral-rich fluids. The latest drill results, which passed through the dolomite to intersect high-grade mineralization below, have powerfully confirmed this hypothesis. This success not only expands the known footprint of mineralization but also opens up over a kilometer of new, untested ground for future exploration.

Antimony: The Strategic Metal at the Heart of the Find

While the project's high-grade gold is compelling, it is the significant presence of antimony that places the Limousine Butte project at the center of a pressing national security conversation. Designated a “Critical Mineral” by the U.S. government, antimony is indispensable for military applications, including armor-piercing bullets, night vision goggles, infrared sensors, and flame-retardant fabrics. It is also vital for modern technology, used in semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries, and solar panels.

The United States currently has no active domestic antimony mines and is almost entirely dependent on foreign sources. This dependency has become a critical vulnerability, as approximately 90% of the world's supply is controlled by China, Russia, and Tajikistan. In a move that sent shockwaves through defense and technology sectors, China, which alone accounts for nearly half of global production, began restricting exports of antimony and related technologies in late 2024, citing national security.

The market reaction has been swift and severe. Antimony prices have reportedly tripled in the past year, surging to record highs near $40,000 per metric ton as shipments from China plummeted. This supply crisis has intensified the race for Western nations to secure their own sources, making high-grade domestic discoveries like NevGold's Armory Fault more valuable than ever.

Charting a Dual Path to Production

NevGold is capitalizing on this urgency with an aggressive and pragmatic “dual track” development strategy. The company is not only focused on defining a large, long-term resource through drilling but is also fast-tracking a plan for near-term antimony production.

This near-term strategy involves reprocessing historical leach pads left over from a previous gold mining operation at the site in the late 1980s. These pads are known to contain significant antimony mineralization. The company has already completed initial sampling and is now bringing in sonic drills to conduct further testing, aiming to quickly assess the economic viability of extracting the critical metal from this existing surface material. Success in this endeavor could provide an early revenue stream and establish the project as a domestic antimony producer in short order.

Simultaneously, the company’s long-term exploration efforts are accelerating. Bolstered by a recently approved 10-year Plan of Operations from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that expands its exploration footprint more than tenfold to 200 acres, NevGold is planning an extensive 2026 drill program. The primary goal is to aggressively drill the newly discovered Armory Fault and prepare an initial gold-antimony Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), a crucial step toward proving the project's overall size and scale.

The U.S. Race for Domestic Antimony

NevGold’s progress at Limousine Butte places it among a small handful of companies striving to build a North American antimony supply chain. The most advanced of these is Perpetua Resources, whose Stibnite Gold-Antimony Project in Idaho received final federal approval in 2025. Backed by over $75 million in U.S. Department of Defense awards and billions in potential financing, the Stibnite project is expected to supply around 35% of U.S. antimony demand once it enters production, slated for 2028.

While Perpetua’s project is larger and more advanced, NevGold’s Limousine Butte project distinguishes itself with what the company calls one of the highest-grade gold-antimony systems currently being advanced in the United States. The high grades reported from the Armory Fault suggest the potential for a high-margin operation. The presence of historical antimony prospects on the property, with rock-chip samples reportedly grading as high as 9.6% antimony, further underscores the district's rich endowment.

With 12 drill holes from the current program still pending release and a fully funded drill program set to begin, all eyes are on NevGold. The company's ability to continue delivering high-grade results and successfully advance its dual-track strategy could prove instrumental in the Western world’s urgent quest for resource independence.