The Department of Defense announced today a $6.2 million award to Golden Metal Resources via Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA). Golden Metal Resources is the wholly owned operating subsidiary of publicly-traded Guardian Metal Resources PLC. The award will enable Golden Metal Resources to deliver a pre-feasibility study for a tungsten mining site, Pilot Mountain, located southeast of Hawthorne, Nevada. This investment, which utilizes funds from the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022, supports the March 20, 2025, Executive Order 14241 on Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production's goal to facilitate domestic mineral production.
"Tungsten is an essential alloying metal for aerospace, ground vehicles, munitions, and many other defense systems," said Dr. Vic Ramdass, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. "Developing a domestic source for tungsten is one of our top critical and strategic mineral priorities."
Using these DPA Title III funds, Golden Metal Resources will complete necessary metallurgical test work, engineering studies, environmental assessments, and related technical investigations to deliver a pre-feasibility study in accordance with regulatory standards of disclosure for mineral projects. The results from these technical investigations will assist in determining the overall feasibility of extracting tungsten minerals from the area and advance this project closer to operationalization. This is one of three awards for sourcing tungsten that the DPA Purchases office has made since 2024.
"This investment will put the Nation on a path to achieve production capability for commercial-scale levels of tungsten, a key metal for numerous DoD systems," added Mr. William "Greg" Davis, Acting Director of the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) directorate. The United States has not mined tungsten in nearly a decade. A domestic source of this essential metal will add much needed resiliency to both commercial and defense supply chains.
This is one of eight awards made by the DPA Purchases Office totaling $314.9 million since the beginning of fiscal year 2025. These investments are complemented by $83.4 million in total recipient cost shares since the beginning of FY 2025. The DPA Purchases Office is overseen by the MCEIP directorate.
