Sept 25 (Reuters) - Perpetua Resources ( PPTA ) said on

Thursday it is in talks with Glencore ( GLCNF ), Trafigura

and others about a partnership to refine antimony in

the U.S., part of a push to boost Western supplies of a critical

mineral whose exports China has blocked.

The company, which counts billionaire John Paulson as its

largest shareholder, last week received permission from the U.S.

government to begin construction of its antimony and gold mine

about 138 miles (222 km) north of Boise in Idaho.

The mine will be the largest U.S. supplier of antimony,

which is used to make bullets, solar panels and other goods.

There are no current U.S. sources of the metal.

Perpetua plans to extract the metal but not refine it,

fueling a push to find partners for the necessary step.

The company said in a statement to Reuters that it is in

talks with Glencore ( GLCNF ), Trafigura, Clarios and Sunshine Silver

about a refining partnership and plans to seek proposals in the

coming weeks with a decision expected by the end of the year.

"We are encouraged by emerging opportunities to expand

domestic mineral processing capacity in America and intend to

make well-informed, market-based decisions when selecting a

partner," said Jon Cherry, Perpetua's CEO.

Glencore ( GLCNF ) declined to comment. Sunshine Silver, Clarios and

Trafigura did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Perpetua's mine site has estimated reserves of 148 million

pounds of antimony and 6 million ounces of gold.

The project has faced legal opposition from Idaho's Nez

Perce tribe, which is concerned the mine could affect the

state's salmon population.

Separately, United States Antimony ( UAMY ), which controls

two North American antimony refineries, secured a contract

earlier this week worth up to $245 million from the U.S. Defense

Logistics Agency to supply antimony metal ingots.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Muralikumar

Anantharaman)