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NATURE OF OPERATIONS
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2024
NATURE OF OPERATIONS  
NATURE OF OPERATIONS

NOTE 1 - NATURE OF OPERATIONS

 

United States Antimony Corporation and its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Mexico (“USAC”, the “Company”, “Our”, “Us”, or “We”) sell processed antimony, zeolite, and precious metals products in the U.S. and Canada. The Company processes antimony ore primarily into antimony oxide, antimony metal, and antimony trisulfide. Our antimony oxide is used to form a flame-retardant system for plastics, rubber, fiberglass, textile goods, paints, coatings, and paper, as a color fastener in paint, and as a phosphorescent agent in fluorescent light bulbs. Our antimony metal is used in bearings, storage batteries, and ordnance. Our antimony trisulfide is used as a primer in ammunition. In its operations in Idaho, the Company mines and processes zeolite, a group of industrial minerals used in soil amendment and fertilizer, water filtration, sewage treatment, nuclear waste and other environmental cleanup, odor control, gas separation, animal nutrition, and other miscellaneous applications. We recover certain amounts of precious metals, primarily gold and silver, at our plant in Montana from antimony concentrates.

 

Developments in the Current Period

 

The Company has two subsidiaries in Mexico, US Antimony de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (“USAMSA”) and Antimonio de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (“ADM”). On March 11, 2024, the Company shut down the operations of USAMSA and announced its plans to sell its USAMSA subsidiary. The USAMSA subsidiary primarily includes the Company’s Madero antimony and precious metals plant in Parras de la Fuente Coahuila, Mexico and its Puerto Blanco antimony and precious metals plant in San Luis de la Paz Guanajuato, Mexico. The Company intends to sell its USAMSA subsidiary over the next year and has initiated an active search for buyers of its operations and/or assets. While the Company will maintain its existing Los Juarez mining claims and concessions in Mexico, which are included in our ADM subsidiary, there are presently no active operations at Los Juarez. See Note 11 for further information.

 

In May 2024, the Company made the decision to sell the personal residence it owns in Idaho that was previously used for management located near its Bear River Zeolite Company (“BRZ”) operation (“BRZ Home”). BRZ is a wholly-owned subsidiary of USAC. The Company also signed an agreement with a realtor in May 2024 to assist with the sale of its BRZ Home. An active search for a buyer began after signing the agreement with the realtor and the Company expects the BRZ Home to be sold sometime over the next year. See Note 11 for further information.

 

BRZ financed the purchase of a wheel loader in the second quarter of 2024. See Note 7 for further information.