What you need to know:
- A mining company is building a small antimony processing plant at Port MacKenzie, with more than 40 containers of equipment unloaded Sunday. The plant is expected to employ about 40 people during assembly and processing and begin operating by fall of next year.
- The federally backed project will process antimony for defense and other uses. NovaMinerals received a $43.4 million federal grant for the plant, which will process and refine ore into antimony trisulfide. Antimony is considered a critical mineral used in munitions, batteries, semiconductors and flame retardants.
- The pilot plant could lead to a larger Alaska critical-minerals operation. If successful, NovaMinerals hopes to expand the facility into a commercial-scale plant and potentially process antimony from other Alaska deposits, making Port MacKenzie a regional hub for critical minerals.
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Equipment for a pilot plant at Port MacKenzie that will process antimony ore and employ about 40 people over the next two years was unloaded Sunday from a barge.
The barge pulled into port at about 2 a.m., and more than 40 containers were moved ashore starting mid-morning, borough officials said.
“It’s probably our largest cargo offloading by barge,” said Dave Griffin, the port director…