Australian operator Trigg Minerals Ltd (ASX: TMG) (OTCMKTS: TMGLF) has selected a seasoned antimony (Sb) expert to guide operations at the company’s newly acquired Utah project and throughout North America.
On Wednesday, Trigg announced that Wiehann Kleynhans will be serving as Vice President of American downstream operations going forward.
Trigg has highlighted that Kleynhans was instrumental in setting up the largest antimony smelter facility outside of China and Russia, in Oman. He has recently been working as an independent antimony market analyst in South Africa.
“Wiehann is an antimony specialist with years of experience in negotiating offtake deals and understands the market forces for this commodity,” Managing Director Andre Booyzen said in a release from Trigg.
An “offtake deal” refers to when a purchase agreement is established between a buyer and company before a product has been produced. These are commonly utilized in the mining, energy and agriculture sectors.
Kleynhans will be responsible for developing a North American strategy for Trigg. The Sb mining specialist recently acquired the Antimony Canyon project in Utah to expand its scope of revenue generation potential outside of Australia as demand soars. Utah is renowned for being one of the world’s top mining jurisdictions.
“This acquisition complements our Wild Cattle Creek deposit in New South Wales [29,902 tonnes Sb] and strengthens $TMG’s critical minerals portfolio across tier-one jurisdictions,” Trigg said in a social media post on Monday.
Trigg has multiple antimony-gold exploration properties in New South Wales. One of these portfolio items, the Spartan antimony project, resides adjacent to Australia’s largest Sb resource held by Larvotto Resources Ltd (ASX: LRV) (FRA: K6X).
To spearhead downstream and smelting processes, as described by Trigg, Kleynhans will need to collaborate with United States Antimony Corp (NYSEAMERICAN: UAMY) — a company with the only Sb smelter in the U.S. at the moment. This facility in Montana is currently undergoing a massive expansion to cater to an increasing rate of activity in the antimony sector.
Read more: NevGold raises $5M for promising gold-antimony prospects in Nevada
Trigg is a member of the International Antimony Association
In February, its application to join the organization was accepted. Trigg is the first ASX-listed company to become a member.
The International Antimony Association (i2a) aims to represent producers, importers and distributors of antimony products and help them connect. It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
Umicore SA (OTCMKTS: UMICF) (FRA: NVJP), Arkema SA – ADR (FRA: V1SD), French operator AMG Antimony and several other companies throughout the globe are members.
“Membership in i2a provides Trigg with access to key industry stakeholders, regulatory developments and global market insights,” the company said at the time.
Trigg’s Antimony Canyon property is estimated to hold 100 kilo tonnes of Sb metal. Samples taken from the site have yielded grades as high as 11.55 per cent Sb.
Trigg will be hosting a webinar for shareholders on May 22 to discuss the Utah project and the strategic rationale behind purchasing it. The company listed shares on the OTCQB market earlier this year to increase trading volume in the U.S.
In April, the Trump Administration implemented a policy making antimony and other critical mineral imports exempt from American tariffs.
Read more: NevGold’s Nevada property may just be the next American antimony resource of scale
Follow Rowan Dunne on LinkedIn
rowan@mugglehead.com
