The US Department of Defense (DoD) awarded Golden Metal Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian Metal Resources (Guardian), US$6.2M for the advancement of its Pilot Mountain tungsten project.

On 23 July, Guardian, a UK-based exploration and development company currently developing tungsten assets in Nevada, USA, through its wholly owned US subsidiary Golden Metal Resources, announced it had been awarded US$6.2M in funding from the US DoD.

The funding was awarded under Title III of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA Title III) and will be used to advance the Pilot Mountain tungsten project and support a pre-feasibility study. The investment is non-dilutive and carries no commercial covenants.

The Pilot Mountain project, currently under development by Guardian, is located approximately 200km southeast of Reno and 18km east of Mina, Nevada. The project has a non-JORC mineral resource estimate of 12.53Mt grading at 0.27% WO₃.

It is one of the few tungsten projects in the USA with the potential to enter production over the long term. Other frontrunners include Guardian’s Tempiute tungsten project, also in Nevada, and American Tungsten’s IMA project in Idaho, for which construction and site preparation began in May.

The DoD’s financial support for Guardian aligns with the mission of DPA Title III, which emphasises the DoD’s commitment to onshoring supply chains and reducing reliance on foreign production.

This deal could be beneficial to the USA, which has not produced tungsten since 2015, when Curtis Tungsten produced small quantities of tungsten concentrate at its Andrew Mine in Los Angeles. The USA largely relies on secondary production and imports from various sources to meet domestic demand.

The advancement of domestic projects such as Pilot Mountain is particularly relevant given that the DoD, under the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), prohibits the acquisition of tungsten that is mined, refined, or manufactured in “foreign entities of concern”, such as China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

If Guardian can bring the Pilot Mountain project into production, it could play a critical role in strengthening the domestic supply chain for this strategic metal, reducing the USA’s reliance on imports.