Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) has signed a sponsored research and development agreement with Rice University to accelerate its US Critical Minerals and Energy Resilience Strategy, focused on the Mojave Project in California.
The agreement observes two key areas of focus including green hydrometallurgical extraction of antimony from mining feedstocks and the exploration of antimony based materials to be used in energy storage applications.
Locksley will supply US$550,000 ($847,273) of project funding over the next year to support the development of intellectual property, which will be under a joint ownership for both parties.
The company is seeking to appoint a US advisory board and engage government representatives for said strategy, before commercialising licensing pathways, engaging industry professionals and strategic partnerships.
Chairman Nathan Lude says this agreement marks a pivotal step in the company’s US strategy to mine for the market.
“As a first mover advantage strategy, we are not just rapidly advancing our upstream strategy, we are helping rebuild downstream capacity through materials innovation which America urgently requires,” Lude says.
“Fast-tracking these two research thrusts allows us to unlock value from our Mojave asset and play a direct role in sovereign independence of the US defense, energy, and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure sectors.”
Rice University Professor Pulickel Ajayan says among the university’s long tradition of developing materials science into real-world practices, this partnership represents an important step.
“Developing scalable, domestic pathways for antimony processing is not only a scientific and engineering challenge but also a national strategic priority,” Ajayan says.
“By combining Rice’s expertise in advanced materials with Locksley’s resources, we can address a critical supply chain gap, accelerate commercialisation, and build global collaborations that strengthen both US energy resilience and the future of sustainable technologies.”
Antimony is a critical mineral seeing recent heights for its primary use as an alloying agent, increasing the hardness and mechanical strength of lead.
The commodity is particularly useful in storage batteries, as well as the semiconductor industry and military uses.
According to the US Geological Survey Publications Warehouse, the US did not mine any marketable antimony, with only one company located in Montana producing primary antimony metal and oxide from imported feedstock.
Antimony has jumped from a value of US$5,500 per tonne in 2019 to between US$57,000 to US$60,000 in early 2025, as reported by Discovery Alert.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Locksley Resources
