Game on for tungsten hopefuls in the US as supply diversification kicks in

• The US imports more than half of the tungsten it needs
• US defence procurement rules require supply diversification from 2027
• Australian companies in the US positioned to benefit

Tungsten is a critical mineral that is essential for US defence, aerospace and advanced manufacturing due to its tensile strength, hardness and high melting point.

Its largest established use is in cutting tools, drill bits and wear parts along with specialty steels, electronics, aerospace components and military applications.

Prices have continued to increase with Rotterdam tungsten concentrate prices climbing from US$252 per metric tonne unit (10 kilograms) in 2024 to US$380/mtu in 2025, which the United States Geological Survey says is due to Chinese export controls.

This has also brought the US dependence on imports into clear focus.

Despite the importance of tungsten to so many key sectors, the US has not mined the metal domestically at a commercial scale since 2015 and is reliant on imports for more than 50% of its needs.

While China accounts for about 26% of all US imports, it does produce 80% of the world’s mine output and dominates processing.

As its 2025 export controls cover selected tungsten products, including APT, oxides and carbides, the same dominance has the potential to affect users beyond those buying Chinese ore directly.

To reduce its reliance on any one source, the US has introduced defence procurement rules that make diversification a concrete requirement from January 1, 2027.

Efforts have also been made to secure domestic critical mineral supply chains highlighted by the Pentagon awarding US$6.2m in July 2025 to support work on domestic tungsten production at Pilot Mountain in Nevada.

Here are some companies positioning their US projects to capitalise on opportunities from the strategic push for domestic tungsten supply.

American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4)

American Tungsten & Antimony’s entire mine-to-metal strategy revolves around the opportunities created by the USA’s priorities.

While the company has antimony interests in Utah and tungsten projects in Utah and Nevada, the lynchpin of its strategy is the now completed acquisition of the Del Sol refinery and pending acquisition of the White Spar antimony mine in Arizona.

Del Sol gives the company the ability to produce finished metal products with the processing pathway already demonstrated by the production of 99.8% purity antimony ingot from White Spar material.

High silver results from the White Spar material has also prompted assessment of a dedicated silver recovery circuit.

More relevant to this discussion about tungsten, the company has engaged Finnish engineering firm Metso to complete a scoping and concept study for an ammonium paratungstate (APT) processing circuit at Del Sol.

APT is the primary industrial intermediate and gateway raw material for more than 75% of global tungsten production.

It isn’t just refining that the company is making progress on.

In early September, AT4 started maiden drilling at its Dutch Mountain tungsten project in Tooele County, Utah.

The 11 hole program totalling about 1000m covers the historical Fraction Lode and Stardust tungsten workings within the Gold Hill district to test anomalies defined by first pass rock chip and soil sampling.

Once this is completed, the company will then start drilling at the Tennessee Mountain tungsten project in Nevada.

AT4 is also advancing the restart readiness of the fully permitted Dutch Mountain processing facility with civil work and site establishment completed.

This work is aimed at confirming the engineering and metallurgical basis for the plant ahead of major equipment commitment.

Palisade Metals (ASX:PM1)

Pallisade’s US strategy centres on lithium, rubidium and tungsten, all of which have been identified as strategically important to Western supply chains.

Of these, tungsten was brought into the company’s orbit after it signed a farm-in agreement in March 2026 for the right to earn up to 100% of Finley Mining, which owns the Finley Basin tungsten project in Granite County, Montana.

Finley Basin consists of unpatented mining claims covering about 378 hectares in the historically productive Flint Creek Mountain Range, where tungsten exploration and production dates back to the early 1900s.

It hosts tungsten-rich skarn mineralisation and an historical non-JORC reserve estimate of 850,000 tons at 0.68% WO3 from Union Carbide’s late 1970s-early 1980s work.

The project is also just 30km from a fully-permitted contract flotation mill in Phillipsburg, which could lend itself to a future development.

Palisade started field activities at Finley Basin in June, with surface sampling, mapping and night traverses with ultraviolet lamps used to identify outcropping scheelite mineralisation.

The work helped refine drill targets and identify access tracks and drill pads to minimise disturbance during drilling.

It also prompted the company to stake an additional 324 hectares of mineral claims around the project area.

Preparations are underway for a maiden drill program of up to 7000m to verify and extend historical mineralisation previously defined by Union Carbide to support a JORC resource estimate.

Pioneer Minerals (ASX:PMM)

While largely focused on its gold-copper projects in Argentina, Pioneer Minerals also owns the North Pine project in the Stibnite-Thunder Mountain region in Idaho.

North Pine project covers 18.4km2.

It includes a small historical tungsten mine at the Springfield prospect that could represent a small part of a significantly larger system.

The prospect is underpinned by a magnetic anomaly stretching 2.9km in length and up to 600m width.

Rock chip sampling at Springfield has confirmed the presence of a robust, high-grade skarn system after returning values of up to 2.98% WO3.

More recently, an airborne electromagnetic survey identified a high-priority bedrock conductor immediately adjacent to Springfield.

The 70m by 140m conductive plate is interpreted to potentially represent the pyrrhotite-rich sulphide component of the Springfield tungsten mineral system concealed beneath shallow cover.

Detailed geological mapping, structural interpretation and final drill planning are underway ahead of the company’s maiden drilling program at Springfield.

Red Mountain Mining (ASX:RMX)

Red Mountain Mining holds the 517 hectare Pioneer tungsten project in Montana that sits besides Almonty Industries’ 6.83Mt at 0.315% WO3 Gentung deposit.

It includes the Greenstone, Glow Worm, Lone Creek and Mammoth prospects, the latter two of which are largely unexplored.

Rock chip sampling at the project returned top tungsten trioxide grades of 5473ppm, 4036ppm and 3241ppm at Greenstone, Glow Worm and Lost Creek targets.

At Greenstone, the most consistent responses run for about 400m immediately south-southwest of the mine claims and remains a priority drill target.

Further mapping and sampling are planned to help rank targets before drilling.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While American Tungsten and Antimony, Palisade Metals, Pioneer Minerals and Red Mountain Mining are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

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