LOCKSLEY RESOURCES LTD (LKY) - How High-Grade Antimony Could Reshape America’s Critical Minerals Supply Chain

A small mineral with outsized impact takes centre stage as we explore how high-grade antimony, refined onshore, can reshape America’s critical minerals backbone. We sit down with Kerrie Matthews, Managing Director and CEO of Locksley Resources, to chart a clear path from drill bit to product: rigorous structural mapping, a data-driven maiden drill program at the Desert Antimony Mine, and a pilot plant designed around real metallurgy rather than wishful thinking. The stakes aren’t academic. With defence, flame retardants, and supply security on the line, the United States needs more than ore; it needs refining capacity, standards, and speed.

Kerrie breaks down how layered geophysics, geochemistry, and underground analysis improved the model before drilling kicked off, helping target above historic workings for faster, more meaningful results. We dive into batch sampling that returned weighted averages around 18% Sb and peaks above 25%, what that means for processing efficiency, and why high-grade feed can shrink plant footprint and operating costs. Then we zoom out to the policy landscape: the executive focus on downstream bottlenecks, a DPA Title III application to accelerate the pilot facility, and early engagement with funding channels that can bring refinery capacity back onshore.

Scale and diversification also come into play. The newly identified Beefeater shear, a 10 to 15 metre wide corridor that mirrors the Desert Antimony Mine structure, hints at a larger multi-vein system, with Hendricks offering further upside. On the rare earths front, El Campo’s proximity to MP Materials and strong surface TREO samples set the stage for a compelling follow-on drill program. We round it out with process innovation: advancing antimony purity targets, moving toward trioxide, and partnering with Rice University on Deepsolv™ pathways to inform a cleaner, smarter hydrometallurgical design.

If you care about resilient supply chains, practical project delivery, and the real work of turning geology into metals, this conversation brings clarity and momentum. Subscribe, share with a friend who follows critical minerals, and leave a review to tell us what you want to hear next.

Transcript

Andrew Musgrave

Welcome again to ASX Briefs, the podcast bringing interesting conversations with ASX listed companies. And today we're joined by Kerrie Matthews, the Managing Director and CEO of Locksley Resources, an exploration company aggressively advancing critical minerals projects in the United States, with a particular focus on high-grade antimony. 
 
 Kerrie, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.

Kerrie Matthews

Thanks, Andrew. Pleasure to be here.

Andrew Musgrave

Now, Kerrie, for those new to the Locksley Resources story, could you explain your mine to market strategy and why focusing on domestic antimony production in California is such a high priority for the US right now?

Kerrie Matthews

Yeah, sure. Locksley Resources is a dual-listed critical minerals company. We have our Mojave project in, which is located in California. It's a tier one jurisdiction. We have two, one deposit and one prospect out there, one being the Desert Antimony Mine, which is a historic working mine, and the other being an El Campo rare earth element prospect. It's a nearology play. We're located a couple of kilometres out from MP Materials, the only producing rare earth mine in North America. We're focused on our mine to metal strategy, which relates to upstream exploration and development at our Mojave project, but also through to downstream processing and refining capability and standing up a facility onshore in the US.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and you've just announced the commencement of diamond drilling at the high-grade Desert Antimony Mine. So how did the recent surface exposure mapping and underground structural analysis change your understanding of the system's geometry before the rig even arrived?

Kerrie Matthews

Yeah, it's I mean it's a huge stage and evolution for Locksley as it stands, moving into our maiden drilling program. Our complementary exploration work leading up to now has been significant. So, we adopted a layered multidisciplinary approach to informing our drilling strategy, and that related to sort of preparation of the technical work from geophysics, geochemistry, and structural mapping that allowed us to generate targets and optimize our drilling program above the historic workings from the Desert Antimony Mine to deliver the most tangible value in the immediate term of our maiden drilling program.

Andrew Musgrave

Now, your recent batch sampling returned exceptional results with some weighted averages reaching 25.7% antimony. So, how do these double-digit grades impact your processing efficiency and the potential footprint of your planned pilot plant?

Kerrie Matthews

That's right. Our batch sampling program completed at DAM delivered some really encouraging and very exciting results for antimony in the double digits. You know, we had a weighted average at about that 18%, some as high as 25%. So that gives us a really good indication of what we potentially have here. I think the important aspect of our mine-to-metal strategy has been that we have advanced, been advancing our metallurgical test work in preparation for design and delivery of a pilot plant, and then also to de-risk the longer-term commercial facility. And so being able to batch sample from our Mojave site and our Mojave project at DAM means that we can pre-optimise our Met testing and further refine our design for our process plant. So, it really examples the way that we're able to move forward in parallel work streams, advancing at pace with a view to converge at the right time. But informing early for our Met test work to build out our design for our pilot plant is a huge advantage for Locksley and our ability to move at pace with the right information on the basis of our Mojave sampling program.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and at a bit more of a macro level, there's a lot of activity in the mining sector in the US at the moment. So, what is the position of Locksley within the US and how are you expanding that footprint?

Kerrie Matthews

So, the thematic in the US around critical minerals continues to gain momentum. There is a lot of activity and focus from the administration and geopolitics more broadly around shoring of security of supply around critical minerals. There was a presidential executive order that was issued in January that exampled for the US, the national security vulnerability didn't necessarily relate to the upstream activities of ore extraction and mining, but more so around that downstream capability for processing and refining. So, there is very limited capability in the US to refine critical minerals like antimony as it stands at the moment. And the differentiator for Locksley and our position in the US is that we have a very clear, firm, and maturing strategy around downstream capability and recognition that that really is the bottleneck in the US. And our team's set of skills and experience is really geared towards that delivery of project and standing up that capability. So, our position in the US has been early engagement with the USG around accessing certain funding opportunities and funding pathways that are available to companies like Locksley around standing up and supporting critical minerals industry development. And so, we have an active application under DPA Title III to advance our pilot plant first phase processing and refining facility and ongoing longer-term discussions around what that might look like for Locksley and USG from a commercial scale facility and plant. So, you know, the macro, there is a lot of activity for good reason. The geopolitical macro view is really focused on the US, in particular, around onshore capability and standing up industry to support. Antimony is a has many applications, but most critically in the US, the view is around defence applications and munitions. It's an excellent fire retardant and security of that supply chain is important to the US government.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, now beyond the current drilling at DAM, you recently identified the Beefeater shear, a new 10- to 15-meter-wide corridor. So, how significant is this discovery in terms of proving that the Mojave project hosts a much larger multi vein mineralized system?

Kerrie Matthews

Identification of the Beefeater shear is really exciting for us. I think it demonstrates the potential of the Desert Antimony Mine structure and the potential extent of that mineralization. Our maiden drilling program is focused around our current historic working at it and the current historic workings that are there. But as we step out, the potential into the Beefeater shear being a 10- or 15-meter-wide corridor mirroring that of the Desert Antimony Mine is hugely exciting for the potential system that we have there. We've also identified Hendricks, which is on the other side of the Beefeater shear. So, it just demonstrates the further potential of the region. I guess what that also allows us to lean into and interpret is that as a mirroring structure to the Desert Antimony Mine, it provides potential for a high-grade system out at DAM and potential discoveries along the way. So, in terms of what it means to Locksley, the potential and the upside for us as a company to grow on what we already have and know and understand as a mine restart for Desert Antimony Mine, the outcomes of our maiden drilling program, but then you know, potential further strike extent into our Beefeater shear is hugely exciting as the potential for Locksley.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, Kerrie, now just to wrap things up, looking ahead at your busy exploration schedule, what are the key milestones the shareholders should watch out for regarding the El Campo Rare Earths project and the metallurgical work aligned with the US Department of Energy?

Kerrie Matthews

Locksley has always communicated frequently with our investor base. We like to ensure that our investors are informed and feel connected to our strategy, and that will continue into the new year. Arguably, the number of catalysts that we have ahead of us represent incredible value upside for investors and new investors to join. So, we have our maiden drilling program, we will have visual interpretation and early-stage assays delivered into market that will then feed into further optimization work for our metallurgical test work. We announced a few weeks ago around our increasing testing results for purity of metal. The next evolution of that is development of a trioxide product, which is important with respect to the US government's focus to secure supply of antimony materials. So, we are close to delivering that. We will continue following our maiden drilling program at DAM and mobilised to our El Campo prospect. As we said, the nearology to MP Materials is highly encouraging. We've had some really high surface samples north of 12% TREO. So, we're very excited to see what that drilling program will deliver at El Campo and how that relates to the strike along with MP Materials. Our technology advancements with Rice University continue to evolve, and we look to have some encouraging results DES technology out of our Rice Research Partnership that will help inform our next steps design for a hydrometallurgy aspect to processing and refining. So, the near term will be a series of catalysts that build on previous work to now but mature our strategy and advance our company position.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, Kerrie. Well, it's been great to have you on the podcast today. So, thanks for your time, and we look forward to further updates from Locksley Resources in the upcoming months.

Kerrie Matthews

Thank you so much.

Andrew Musgrave

By integrating high-grade resource development with strategic domestic supply to chain partnerships, Locksley Resources is positioning itself as a vital player in the American critical minerals landscape. 
 
 That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.