A smelting facility in Montana is looking to help secure U.S. national security supply chains through the production of antimony, a silvery-white metal element that is considered critical to industrial and military applications.

Last week, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte joined Gary Evans, chairman and CEO of the U.S. Antimony Corporation, to celebrate an expansion of the company’s smelting facility outside of Thompson Falls. It is the only operating antimony smelter in the United States.

“You may not realize it, but there’s not a bullet fired in the world without antimony,” Evans said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 25.

Antimony is used to harden and strengthen alloys, including lead used in bullets, and is used in primers, which initiate combustion. It’s also a key ingredient in flame retardants, lead-acid batteries, semiconductors, and various military applications such as flares, night vision goggles, and nuclear weapons production.

USAC was established in 1969 in Montana to mine antimony and operates a smelter and precious metals plant in Sanders County. The company has not conducted mining operations in Montana since 1983, according to its website, due to cheaper materials from foreign sources.

Currently, roughly 85% of the world’s supply and production of antimony comes from China.

“This allows us to disengage our supply chains from people who aren’t our friends,” Gianforte said. “We cannot and must not be reliant on China for these minerals. That’s why President Trump, Interior secretary, Doug Burgum and others have made the production of critical minerals like antimony a top priority. With Montana’s rich tradition in mining, we can and should be a national leader with this important facility.”

Evans said the company began expanding its operations in May and is approximately 40% complete. The facility is expected to be completed by the end of December or early January.

According to the governor’s office, the Thompson Falls smelter can currently produce up to 15 million pounds of antimony oxide, or 5 million pounds of antimony metal, and also refines silver and gold.

Once completed, the $15 million expansion project will increase production by 400%, and add roughly 25 jobs to Sanders County.

Last week, USAC also announced that the U.S. Department of Defense had awarded the company a $245 million sole-source contract by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency to provide antimony metal “to aid in the replenishment of the National Defense Stockpile.”

USAC also operates another smelter in Mexico, increasing its production capabilities, and has expanded mining operations in Alaska.

According to company press releases, USAC has been “stealthily reacquiring” mining claims across 1,200 acres in the area and surveys indicate sufficient quantities of the element could exist in three vein systems on the property.

The company filed a Small Miners Exclusion Statement with the state of Montana this summer, allowing immediate mining operations on five acres, with plans to file exploration permits with the state and the U.S. Forest Service.

“There continues to exist a worldwide shortage of this critical material necessary for our Department of Defense. The significant price increase experienced for worldwide supplies of antimony ore have made this decision to reopen our existing antimony mine adjacent to our smelting operations an easy one,” Evans said in a statement.

One of the largest domestic supplies of antimony is just to the southwest of USAC’s smelting facility, at the Stibnite Gold Mine in Idaho’s Payette National Forest. The mine ceased production in the 1990s, but the company that owns the mine, Perpetual Resources, is seeking to restart operations.

The U.S. Forest Service early this year approved the open pit mine which could become one of the largest gold mines in the country, as well as a top producer of antimony.

Conservation groups in Idaho have sued the state Department of Environmental Quality over the air permit for the mine.

However, the U.S. Army took part in a ground breaking event at the central Idaho mine earlier in September to highlight the importance of securing a domestic supply chain of military-grade raw materials.

In Montana, Evans said USAC planned for the expansion before the Department of Defense award, but said it “took the gamble” to boost smelting production in anticipation of the contract.

“We’re excited about how this expansion will not only help fulfill this contract, but add to the employment to this area. This region of Montana is very pristine, and we’re trying to do our best to keep it that way,” Evans said. “Montanans should be very proud of the contributions your state is making in this extremely important endeavor for our country. There’s a lot of patriotism in what we’re doing by providing antimony to the military.”