May 23 (Reuters) - Perpetua Resources PPTA.O said on Friday it had submitted a formal application to the U.S. Export-Import Bank for potential debt financing of up to $2 billion to construct its Idaho antimony and gold Stibnite project.
The company had received a letter of interest from the EXIM Bank in 2024 for an up to $1.8 billion loan for the project.
Perpetua said the increase in the application amount reflects a rise in the estimated number of job-years indicated by the financial update and basic engineering work completed in the first quarter.
The company's shares were up nearly 4% in afternoon trading.
The Pentagon-backed mine, which would be the country's first antimony project, has an estimated reserve of 148 million pounds of the metal used in bullets and tanks, as well as in alloys for electric-vehicle batteries.
President Donald Trump's administration has stepped up efforts to boost domestic production of critical minerals and raise government financing as part of a broad effort to offset China's near-total control of the sector.
Earlier this week, Perpetua received the final federal permit, the Clean Water Act Section 404, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the project.
(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
((Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com))
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