$5 Million From DFC for Antimony Near Kriva Palanka — the Project Is Still at the Assessment Stage
The project is run by Australian firm Pela Global. Environmental and health studies have yet to be carried out.
The antimony project in Krstov Dol, near the village of Luke close to Kriva Palanka, will receive a $5 million grant for further development, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced in an interview with MIA from Washington. He singled out the project as one of the first concrete initiatives under the strategic partnership between Macedonia and the US.
"Antimony is a critical and rare mineral, most often used in the defence industry," Mickoski said, later adding in an interview with the Atlantic Council that Macedonia holds larger reserves than Russia and China. The project, according to available information, is not directly run by a US mining company but by Australian firm Pela Global, which in March announced an agreement with the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for up to $5 million in project financing.
According to the company's own statements, the funds are earmarked for a modern mineral assessment, a full environmental and social study, and moving toward a feasibility study — meaning the project is not yet at the extraction stage. The site, near the village of Luke, was previously mined for antimony.
Mickoski has said the ore would be extracted in Macedonia and processed in the US. The health and environmental aspects of antimony — a mineral with documented health risks under uncontrolled exposure — are part of the studies still to be carried out before any decision on actual extraction is made.
MKNews Hub · Economy · September 20, 2026