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A London-based company with operations focused solely in Nevada expects to begin tungsten mining operations in 2028–the first U.S. tungsten mines in years amid ongoing Chinese export restrictions of the critical metal used in a variety of defense products.
This week the Defense Department awarded a subsidiary of Guardian Metal Resources Plc $6.2 million for the engineering component of a pre-feasibility study for the Pilot Mountain tungsten mining site in Western Nevada. Guardian Metal is nearing the completion of drilling work that defines the resources at the site as its part of the cost-share with the DoD, Oliver Friesen, the company’s CEO, told Defense Daily on Thursday.
The study will be completed in the first half of 2026 with the goal being as early as possible, which will lead into the bankable feasibility study (BFS) that is expected to be done by the end of the year, Friesen said. The BFS will outline the technical and financial viability of the mining project to raise the capital to build the mine, he said.
“So, based on those timelines, that would allow us to start producing tungsten before the current administration leaves office,” Friesen said.
Guardian Metals also owns a second tungsten site in Nevada called the Tempiute Project in the south-central part of the state, a mine the company acquired in February. This week Guardian Metals announced plans for a $21 million equity funding raise that will be put toward both sites.
In the 1980s, Tempiute was the largest tungsten mine in North America, Friesen said. The site has existing infrastructure that will help enable a restart of operations potentially before mining begins at Pilot Mountain, he said.
Tempiute also has tungsten concentrate stockpiled, which Friesen said will allow for the extraction of tungsten before mining operations begin at either site, “and would represent the only domestic mine source of tungsten in the U.S.” in the meantime. Friesen is confident that tungsten from the stockpiles would begin shipping from Tempiute before the second half of 2028, “but we’re looking at options which move that timeline up significantly, because the U.S. needs tungsten as soon as possible,” he said.
Tungsten is not mined in the U.S., and 86 percent of production comes from China, and 5 percent from Russia and North Korea. U.S. processors are relying on existing stockpiles and scrap for tungsten but the supply “is probably the tightest it has ever been” amid Chinese export restrictions of the metal that began earlier this year, Friesen said.
The metal’s density makes it a key ingredient in armor piercing munitions, fragmentation rounds, missiles, and for armor used in the Army’s M1 Abrams tank. Tungsten also is very wear and heat resistant, making it useful for engine and other applications.
The DoD Defense Production Act funds provided to Guardian Metals are meant to help unlock “commercial-scale levels of tungsten” in the U.S., DoD said on July 23.
“Tungsten is an essential alloying metal for aerospace, ground vehicles, munitions, and many other defense systems,” Dr. Vic Ramdass, acting assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, said in a statement. “Developing a domestic source for tungsten is one of our top critical and strategic mineral priorities.”
Once Guardian Metals begins extracting tungsten, shipments to processors can begin. The company has a letter of intent with Pennsylvania-based Global Tungsten & Powders (GTP) to ship about half of what it mines for processing into powders that are ultimately part of finished products. Friesen said that while GTP is the “leading candidate” to be its “take-off partner,” his company is leaving options open to also work with other processors, and added that there is potential that the Defense Logistics Agency may want to stockpile tungsten.
DoD’s Industrial Base Office during the Biden Administration made two awards worth nearly $31 million combined to companies in Canada to strengthen the sourcing of tungsten in North America.
