Australia’s mining company Nova Minerals, which owns a gold mine in Alaska, saw its stock price surge by over 110% on Tuesday, October 14th. The company announced that it had received a request from the Trump administration to prepare a briefing on its mining operations in Alaska and key mineral extraction plans.
In a statement, Nova Minerals mentioned that the U.S. Ambassador to Australia requested the company to provide relevant information for the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Following this news, stock prices of other mining companies also rose, including Fortescue Metals Group, Australian Mines, and the mining giant Rio Tinto.
Nova Minerals estimates that their mining area in the Estelle region, about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, contains over 9.9 million ounces of gold across four major deposits, making it one of the “largest undeveloped gold assets globally.”
Based on the Tuesday morning gold price of $4,140 per ounce, the potential value of this gold mine amounts to a staggering $410 billion.
Earlier in October, Nova Minerals also announced that the U.S. Department of Defense invested $43.4 million in its wholly-owned subsidiary for developing antimony resources domestically to strengthen the supply chain.
With the Trump administration’s increased focus on domestic antimony supply chains to reduce reliance on external sources, Nova Minerals’ statement today signifies one of the latest developments in strengthening the critical minerals and metals industry chain in the U.S.
In recent times, the Trump administration has also invested in several American mining companies, including MP Materials, the sole rare earth minerals operating company in the U.S., Trilogy Metals, which holds a 50% share in a large-scale mining project under development in Alaska, and Lithium Americas, currently developing a lithium project that could potentially become the largest lithium mine in the Western Hemisphere once operational.
The stock prices of these companies have seen significant increases this year, with MP Materials rising over 500%, Trilogy Metals over 490%, and Lithium Americas over 180%.
Nova Minerals’ movements are expected to become a new focal point for mining cooperation between the U.S. and Australia. Analysts believe that the U.S.’ strategic focus on critical minerals indicates that the Trump administration is expanding its control and presence in global resources.