Perpetua Resources Corp. has entered into an agreement to supply a portion of antimony production from the Stibnite Gold Project to Ambri Inc. (“Ambri”), establishing the foundation to help facilitate the decarbonization of energy grids in the U.S. and around the world. Perpetua’s Stibnite Gold Project, located in central Idaho, will provide Ambri with antimony from the only responsible and domestically mined source of the critical mineral in the U.S.
Ambri, a U.S. company, has developed an antimony-based, low-cost liquid metal battery for the stationary, long-duration, daily cycling energy storage market. Ambri batteries combine technological innovation with commercial applications for low-cost, long lifespan and safe energy storage systems that will increase the overall contribution from renewable sources to help enable the transition to green, carbon-free power grids.
“This agreement is a meaningful step in support of the current administration’s goal of achieving 100% clean electricity in the U.S., while prioritizing the domestic manufacturing of battery technology,” said Laurel Sayer, CEO of Perpetua Resources. “Perpetua continues to show how a modern mining company can not only be an essential part of the clean energy value chain, but also be key to the solution to the world’s climate challenges.”
The signing of the Agreement coincides with Ambri’s announcement that it secured $144 million in new financing led by Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited), Paulson & Co. Inc., Bill Gates, Fortistar and Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates. Additionally, Reliance has been chosen as Ambri’s joint venture partner for battery development in India as part of its broader plans to invest $10 billion to develop the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex. The capital raise will be used to accelerate the commercialization of Ambri’s leading liquid metal battery and build a domestic manufacturing facility to fundamentally change the way power grids operate.
“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Perpetua, which helps Ambri scale production of its leading battery technology” said Dan Leff, Executive Chairman of Ambri. “Ambri is well positioned to become the lowest cost producer of energy storage batteries, a critical building block enabling the transition to an entirely renewable power grid. Ambri recognizes the strategic importance of antimony as a leading metal in the green energy transformation and supports the responsible production of critical metals, especially within the United States.”
The Agreement contains certain standard commercial terms which contain options for treatment, refining, transport, and tolling charges. The minimum commitment of Perpetua’s antimony production for Ambri’s battery manufacturing is expected to power over 13 Gigawatt hours of battery capacity, which is equivalent to over 8 times the total additions to the entire U.S. energy storage market in 2020.
The Agreement contains a provision for fixed pricing and higher volumes that can be mutually agreed to by both parties. Perpetua and Ambri will also collaborate to identify opportunities to lower carbon emissions in their respective operations with the use of renewable energy combined with battery storage.
“Today’s agreement directly links the redevelopment of the Stibnite Gold Project – and the restoration of the site – to a new battery manufacturing partner that is poised to play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions,” said Sayer. “Our partnership with Ambri significantly increases the strategic and long-term value of our project and breathes further life into our guiding ESG principles.”
Perpetua continues to engage with other potential end users of antimony and will provide updates as they become available.
About Perpetua Resources and the Stibnite Gold Project
Perpetua Resources Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiaries, is focused on the exploration, site restoration and redevelopment of gold-antimony-silver deposits in the Stibnite-Yellow Pine district of central Idaho that are encompassed by the Stibnite Gold Project. The Project is one of the highest-grade, open pit gold deposits in the United States and is designed to apply a modern, responsible mining approach to restore an abandoned mine site and produce both gold and the only mined source of antimony in the United States. Further advancing Perpetua Resources’ ESG and sustainable mining goals, the Project will be powered by the lowest carbon emissions grid in the nation and a portion of the antimony produced from the Project will be supplied to Ambri, a US-based company commercializing a low-cost liquid metal battery essential for the low-carbon energy transition.