JP Morgan Chase has chosen antimony and gold miner Perpetua Resources for its first investment with its $1.5 trillion fund for U.S. national security. Under the agreement, details of which were released Monday, JP Morgan will invest $75 million of its own funds for a nearly 3% stake in Perpetua, which is building the largest U.S. antimony mine about 138 miles (222 km) north of Boise, Idaho.
The agreement was signed on Sunday. The bank, which holds roughly 20,000 shares of Perpetua currently, according to LSEG data, will also have the option to exercise $42 million in warrants within three years.
There are no existing U.S. sources of antimony, which is also used to make solar panels, lubricants, flame retardants and other goods. China, the world’s primary antimony miner and processor blocked exports in 2024, causing Western manufacturers to look for a different source.
READ: JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs deploy AI as banks brace for workforce changes (
“With this investment, we are supporting a company in an industry critical to national security and American resiliency, precisely the focus of our new initiative,” said Doug Petno, co-CEO of JPMorgan’s commercial and investment bank division. The mine is backed by billionaire investor John Paulson, and is set to supply more than 35% of America’s annual antimony needs once it opens by 2028 and also produce 450,000 ounces of gold each year.
The site was under construction as of last week, and has estimated reserves of 148 million pounds of antimony and six million ounces of gold. “This is all about putting America first again relative to the supply chain, in this case for critical minerals,” said Jon Cherry, Perpetua’s CEO.
JP Morgan had announced its Security and Resiliency Initiative earlier this month. This initiative aims to offset what CEO Jamie Dimon said was the “painfully clear” reality that “the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals.”
The bank had said in a statement that it plans to invest up to $10 billion across four key sectors: defense and aerospace; frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing; energy technologies including batteries and supply chains; and advanced manufacturing. It said that within the four major areas, there were 27 specific industries it would look to support with advice, financing and investments.
The bank also said it would hire an unspecified number of bankers and create an external advisory council to support its initiative.