The world is changing economically, technologically, and geopolitically. Supply chains are changing, where projects were previously optimized solely for cost and efficiency there is now growing collective consideration of how projects enable global resilience, security, and strategic alignment. At the center of this transformation are critical minerals: the essential building blocks of advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital infrastructure, and national defense. Once overlooked, they are now fundamental to economic competitiveness and industrial sovereignty.
Against this backdrop, global relationships are becoming more important. Western countries are consolidating coordination to ensure mutual ongoing strategic and economic benefit; and critical mineral security trade partnerships have created the opportunity to strengthen those looking to establish a new era of mineral supply chains.
Two countries who have long looked across the Pacific and seen friends are Australia and the United States. Locksley, an ASX listed company based in Perth, Australia, has a U.S. footprint.
The United States and Australia have a longstanding relationship as close allied nations especially when it comes to unlocking critical mineral resources for the benefit of both countries. The United States has vast untapped resources. Australia has the expertise and processing technology to help extract and transform those resources into economically viable projects.
We are delighted to enhance our investment in critical resource extraction inside the United States. Locksley is advancing the Mojave Desert Mine Project in California, targeting rare earth elements (REEs) and antimony. We are executing a mine-to-market strategy for antimony aimed at re-establishing domestic supply chains for critical materials, underpinned by strategic partnerships with Rice University, Columbia University, and leading industry stakeholders in the United States. Locksley’s focus on downstream strategy plays a key role in advancing U.S. critical minerals independence while supporting the development of electric vehicles, fire-suppressants, renewable energy, national security hardware, and more.
Locksley’s Desert Antimony Mine (DAM) maiden drilling program started in San Bernadino County’s Mojave Desert, located between Las Vegas and Las Angeles. The commencement of drilling is a defining moment for our company. With strong momentum behind us, we are moving decisively to play a key role in reshaping the future of critical minerals supply.
Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about antimony, but antimony has been called the most important mineral you never heard of, shaping important U.S. economic and defense industries for decades.
We have made extensive details about our mine, including maps, statistics, and photos publicly available to demystify the mine-to-market process and educate stakeholders about the advantages of mining and refining antimony on American shores.
Yet extraction is only part of the equation. The real bottleneck in America’s critical minerals supply chain is not geology, it is refining capacity. For decades, the United States allowed much of its processing and metallurgical expertise to migrate overseas, leaving domestic manufacturers dependent on foreign refiners even when raw materials are sourced from allied or domestic mines. If the US is serious about reshoring supply chains, we must expand U.S.-based refining and downstream manufacturing alongside responsible mining. That is why Locksley’s mine-to-market strategy integrates pilot-scale processing, university-led metallurgical innovation, and a best-in-class team of experts working with the next generation of U.S. mining leaders. Industrial sovereignty is not achieved when ore leaves the ground; it is secured when finished materials are produced on American soil.
Beyond vital military applications, antimony is essential for hundreds of products used by consumers every day, including flame retardants, lead-acid batteries, and semiconductors. Whether it’s electronics, auto parts, or a host of other products, antimony improves both performance and durability. That makes antimony a fundamental element for any effort to restore U.S. sovereignty over its critical minerals supply chain.
Beginning drilling at the Desert Antimony Mine reflects our strong technical foundation and focus on high-confidence targets. As the U.S. looks to onshore its resource extraction, this project can underpin near-term U.S. antimony supply via our pilot plant initiative. This program is key to unlocking the resource potential of the mine, and the results will directly inform downstream processing. We are fully aligned with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Innovation Hub, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), and institutions working on this goal across government.
Our maiden drilling program has targeted extensions of known high-grade stibnite mineralization below the historical workings. Stibnite ore is refined into useable antimony. During preliminary earthworks, Locksley’s advanced multidisciplinary exploration work mapping has confirmed the location of primary veins for optimized drill-targeting, enabling us to extract the most antimony with the smallest environmental footprint.
To be sure, globalization must be realigned based on long-term mutual economic benefits and strategic interest. It is in no one’s interest to be dependent on unaligned countries for critical resources like antimony. With DAM, we support American domestic supply-chain priorities while strengthening the economic partnership between our two countries.
Kerrie Matthews is CEO of Locksley Resources Limited. She has more than two decades of experience delivering nationally significant and capital-intensive projects in the resources and infrastructure sectors.
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