Guardian Metal Resources PLC

Guardian Metal Resources plc has signed a collaboration agreement with Oritain Global Limited to develop a database of origin fingerprints for tungsten, supporting provenance verification for governments, industry and end consumers. The inaugural database will include tungsten from Guardian Metal's co-flagship Tempiute and Pilot Mountain projects in Nevada, with the company delivering initial samples from both sites to Oritain. The agreement is particularly timely ahead of January 1, 2027, when U.S. defense procurement restrictions under Section 854 of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act, implemented through DFARS 252.225-7052, are expected to drive tighter traceability requirements across the tungsten supply chain. Those requirements were further reinforced by Executive Order 14415, signed on July 20, 2026, which restricts sourcing waivers for covered-country materials and directs comprehensive supply chain mapping and traceability across U.S. defense procurement. Oritain CEO Alyn Franklin said forensic origin verification is becoming a necessary ingredient for durable critical minerals supply chains, while Guardian Metal CEO Oliver Friesen called the agreement a meaningful step toward building a fully transparent and verifiable tungsten supply chain entirely on U.S. soil.

Guardian Metal Resources has released a Preliminary Feasibility Study for its Pilot Mountain tungsten project in Nevada, showing an after-tax internal rate of return of 59.6% and a capital payback period of just one year at the base-case tungsten price. At current spot prices, the after-tax net present value rises to more than US$1.3 billion and the payback period shortens to approximately six months. The company says Pilot Mountain is the only US tungsten project with a prefeasibility-level study completed in the last decade, giving it a unique leadership position as Western governments seek to reduce dependence on China, Russia, and North Korea, which supply about 90% of global mine output. Guardian is now advancing toward a Definitive Feasibility Study, permitting, and detailed engineering, with CEO Oliver Friesen emphasizing speed of execution to meet growing defence and technology demand. The planned open-pit operation is expected to offer lower costs and greater flexibility compared with underground deposits.

Guardian Metal Resources has finalized the acquisition of Lincoln Estates Group LLC, securing 841 acres of real property and 2,540 acre-feet of annual water rights in south-central Nevada. The total transaction cost is US$1.3 million, paid in cash through its wholly-owned subsidiary Golden Metal Resources, LLC. The property is located less than 10 miles from the company's flagship Tempiute Tungsten Project, a past-producing domestic asset last operational in the 1980s. The acquisition includes water rights spread across three permits banked with the Lincoln County Water District, which Guardian Metal can assign and transfer directly into the Tempiute project service area, and mixed-use real property zoned for commercial, industrial, and single-family uses with direct transport access off Highway 375. The company says this infrastructure acquisition materially de-risks the project and advances its goal of building a resilient domestic U.S. tungsten supply chain to reduce reliance on foreign sources while enhancing national economic and defense security.