Guardian Metal Resources PLC

From Nevada to Washington to Wall St : Guardian Metal Resources Leads America’s Tungsten Revival 

 

“…following the award of $6.2m from the US Department of Defense to accelerate development of the Pilot Mountain Project, GMET then disclose Wall Street Titan Stanley Druckenmiller backs them to the tune of £13.6 million…”

 

What an amazing year 2025 is turning out to be for Guardian Metal Resources with shares up around 80pc at the time of writing. Guardian Metal Resources (AIM:GMET, OTCQX:GMTLF) has made impressive progress this summer in positioning itself as the key player in US efforts to develop a secure domestic supply of tungsten, securing a total of US $27.2m in new funding($6.2m via a US DoD award) to press ahead with the development of two highly prospective tungsten projects.

GMET’s assets include the fully-owned Pilot Mountain Project located within Nevada’s prolific Walker Lake Mineral Belt, believed to be the largest undeveloped tungsten deposit in the US with significant skarn-style tungsten, copper, silver and zinc mineralisation.

Significant new Shareholder

 

Guardian Metal Resources plc has secured a major endorsement with the arrival of the Duquesne Family Office LLC as a significant new shareholder, following Power Metal Resources’ sale of its entire 14.75% stake for £13.6 million at 55p per share.

The Duquesne Family Office, founded in 2010 by legendary investor Stanley Druckenmiller is based in New York City and invests across hedge funds, fund-of-funds, technology, and other growth sectors.

The transaction underscores growing institutional confidence in Guardian’s strategic positioning within the U.S. critical metals sector, where its co-flagship tungsten projects in Nevada are advancing into a pivotal growth phase.

CEO Oliver Friesen said the addition of Duquesne marks a strong vote of confidence as the company looks to deliver long-term value to all shareholders.

 

The demand for tungsten

 

With the highest melting point of any element, formidable strength, and excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, tungsten, included on the US Critical Minerals List, has a vast range of industrial and military applications. Diamond-hard tungsten carbide is used for drilling, and tungsten crucibles for steel and other furnaces. It is a key element for telecoms, electronics, semiconductors and power generation, and a critical component for military technologies such as armour-piercing projectiles. Earlier this year GMET published the first scientific paper quantifying likely demand for tungsten from the emerging nuclear fusion sector. The study predicts that global tungsten production will need to grow by 10 to 16 times from its current level by the end of the century to support the rollout of 500 MWth and 2000 MWth scale fusion reactors.

But as with so many critical metals and minerals, tungsten’s supply chains are ensnared in today’s geopolitical trade wars.China dominates the global market for tungsten, producing over 83pc of the metal in 2024. The US, which has relied on China for more than a third of its imports, is attempting to rapidly scale domestic production as established trading patterns deteriorate. The US military has been given a 2027 deadline for ending any purchases of tungsten manufactured or mined in China or Russia. And earlier this year the White House further highlighted the metal’s critical status by issuing an Executive Order emphasising the necessity of developing secure domestic sources to ensure economic prosperity and defence readiness. Highlighting the vulnerabilities in the current supply chain, particularly the dependence on foreign sources for minerals essential to defence, energy, and advanced manufacturing sectors, the Order instructs the administration to assess the impact of imported processed critical minerals on national security. Similar mandates issued during Trump’s first term signaled measures to support the domestic steel and aluminiumindustries.

The Order was soon followed by the award of $6.2m from the US Department of Defense to accelerate development of the Pilot Mountain Project. GMET disclosed the award on the same day the company announced it had raised $21m to advance key workstreams at Pilot Mountain and its other major tungsten venture, the Tempiute Tungsten Project, also in Nevada. The new funds will advance work towards Pre-Feasibility Studies at Pilot Mountain and resource development work at Tempiute, including ongoing and planned resource drilling operations, metallurgical test work, engineering studies, permitting applications and construction design. GMET anticipates that workstreams at both projects will be completed ‘during H1 2026.’

CEO Oliver Friesen said: ‘Securing approximately $27.2m in total funding – through a combination of a US government award and new equity subscriptions – represents a major milestone for Guardian Metal Resources. This financing positions us to rapidly advance our co-flagship tungsten projects in Nevada, Pilot Mountain and Tempiute, and is a strong endorsement of our mission to establish a secure, Mined-in-America supply of Tungsten – a critically important defense metal.’

GMET has further enhanced its position as a critical minerals supplier by joining the US Critical Minerals Forum (CMF). Mr Friesen said: ‘This membership provides Guardian Metal with direct access to the policymakers, industry leaders, and investors who are driving America’s critical minerals strategy … The Forum’s partnership with DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) OPEN initiative is particularly valuable as it provides credible market intelligence and forecasting capabilities that will inform our strategic decisions.’ GMET has also refreshed its management team to tie the company even more closely to key decision makers, with Non-Executive Director J.T. Starzecki, who has ‘worked closely with the US Government to advance domestic mining initiatives’, becoming Executive Chairman.

Progress at Pilot Mountain 

 

GMET has already recorded significant progress at Pilot Mountain. The first diamond core drillhole assay results from the Project, published last autumn, intersected three zones of ‘highly significant’ tungsten mineralisation together with zinc, silver and copper. Standout high-grade assay results included 1.37pc WO3 (tungsten trioxide) (108.7 to 110.2 metresdownhole depth) and 1.44pc WO3 (114 to 115.5 metresdownhole depth). Core sample assay results returned upper limit of detection results for 20 tungsten samples and 15 zinc results at more than 10,000 ppm.

Earlier this month the final batch of drillholes from the Project’s Desert Scheelite zone confirmed high-grade tungsten mineralisation over significant widths. To date, a total of 82 drillholes have completed, with 61 drillholes at Desert Scheelite. Pilot Mountain comprises the Garnet, Good Hope, Gunmetal and Desert Scheelite prospects, all of which possess significant skarn-style tungsten-copper-silver-zinc mineralisation.

The latest set of results reported extended tungsten-rich intervals throughout several holes. These included mineralised intervals of 21.6m, 33.9m, 45.7m and 24.4m, and high-grade individual assay results of up to 1.09pc WO3, 9.98pc zinc (Zn), 337ppm silver (Ag), and 1.3pccopper (Cu). GMET now ‘eagerly awaits’ initial results from inaugural Garnet Zone drilling, where all 20 planned resource drill hoses have been completed.

Work at the Tempiute Tungsten Project

 

The Tempiute Tungsten Project is focused on what was formerly known as the Emerson Tungsten Mine, historically one of the top tungsten-producing mines in the US. Located in south-central Nevada some 250 miles from Pilot Mountain, the mine, which produced tungsten as recently as the late 1980s, is already equipped with infrastructure and lies almost entirely within patented (private) mining claims, providing a foundation for rapid redevelopment. GMET’s due diligence located the presence of ‘a robust tungsten-rich skarn-type mineralisingsystem at Tempiute with historical reference to underexplored mineralised breccia pipes as well as porphyry zones, pointing to the potential for significant exploration upside at the Project.’

Preparations are underway for a maiden ground work programme. In June GMET reported it had significantly expanded its land position at Tempiute by staking 31 additional Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Mining Claims. Geochemical sampling of these newly identified areas had ‘confirmed the presence of significant tungsten mineralisation’. High grade tungsten mineralisation was confirmed along a strike length of outcropping skarn of more than 1,300m where historic underground mining was carried out up to 350m below surface. Rock chip samples returned assay values up to 0.94pc WO3.Further expansion was announced in July following identification of additional zones of exposed tungsten mineralisation.

Mr Friesen said: ‘The acquisition of these sub-surface rights is another very positive step towards unlocking the full potential of the Tempiute district. The newly purchased claims provide royalty free ownership of the historical open-pit Schofield mine and further expand the overall footprint of the Tempiute Project.’

Announcing the Pilot North Tungsten Project

 

GMET announced a new tungsten project in July following the staking of 59 BLM claims 15km northwest of Pilot Mountain. The Pilot North Tungsten Project encapsulates three historical tungsten mines, Copper Head, Western Metals and Jasper. Reconnaissance field work has confirmed skarn mineralisation with similar geology to Pilot Mountain.

Earlier this month GMET said it had staked a further 42 BLM claims, bringing the total number of claims to 101, covering an area of some 2,086 acres. Reconnaissance rock samples had returned high-grade copper, zinc, silver, tungsten and bismuth results. Mr Friesen said: ‘Early results from Pilot North have surpassed our expectations, confirming significant tungsten grades alongside copper, silver, zinc and other critical metals. With the 100pc owned, royalty-free footprint now expanded to more than 2,000 acres and encompassing multiple historical tungsten mines, we believe we have added another key building block to our nearby Pilot Mountain tungsten project, advancing our goal of delivering a secure, Mined-in-America source of tungsten to the US industrial base.’

GMET beyond tungsten

 

While focusing on tungsten, GMET continues to clarify the prospectivity of its assets for other critical metals.

Earlier this month the company reported positive rock chip assay results and geological observations from an ongoing porphyry copper exploration campaign at Pilot Mountain. Rock chip sampling showed ‘highly elevated’ copper and molybdenum concentrations and delineated a sizeable area of results showing more than 500ppm Cu. An initial drilling programme is ‘tentatively planned’ following the completion of all skarn-related tungsten-focused drilling.

Mr Friesen said: ‘These new results provide a further layer of evidence that Pilot Mountain hosts a much larger mineral system than previously understood. While our main work continues to be centred on advancing the tungsten-copper-silver-zinc skarns, the results thus far from this porphyry-focused study increasingly point to a porphyry environment worth investigating further … The data not only expands the interpreted footprint of Porphyry South but also strengthens the case for a complex multi-metal system at depth. With clear indications of molybdenum and copper fertility, we see significant merit in testing these porphyry targets once the tungsten-focused drilling programme is completed.’

In June sampling at the Tempiute Tungsten Project confirmed significant gallium (Ga) results across the historically mined horizon with samples up to 90ppm Ga.

Garfield, another major GMET project in the Walker Lane Mineral Belt, is a copper-gold-silver prospect consisting of 65 lode mining claims covering 5.4km2. Garfield’s Kibby Basin Lithium Project, close to Pilot Mountain, covers two claim packages prospective for lithium brine mineralisation. The project’s southern claim package is less than 250 metres from a 2022 drillhole which returned a significant 169 metre interval of lithium brine determined to be open in all directions.

Garfield also bears strong traces of another strategic metal, antimony. A January exploration update reported a sample returning overlimit antimony of more than 10,000 g/t (or 1pc). Results from the preceding two years indicate a zone along the continuum between a low-sulphidation to high sulphidation silver-gold system representing a deposit style not previously seen at Garfield. Antimony is a niche defence metal used to harden lead bullets and make flame-retardant materials. It has jumped in price by about 375pc since the start of 2024 due to global feedstock shortage and Chinese export controls.

A ground magnetic geophysics survey at the Kibby Basin Lithium Project, delineated three significant magnetic high anomalies close to surface mineralisation. Rock sampling has returned ‘exceptional and consistent high-grade copper-gold-silver results’, including up to 15.56pc and 9.58pc copper equivalent, with seven of the eight samples returning more than 1.75pc copper equivalent.

Garfield is also prospective for gold. Results published in Junedelivered the highest grade gold results to date from the site, including 61.0 g/t gold (Au) and 47.0 g/t Au. Geological field work has determined high-grade epithermal vein structures. GMET continues discussions ‘in regard to potential joint-venture or option agreement arrangements covering the Project.’

Trenching results at the company’s Golconda Summit Project, also in the Walker Lane Mineral Belt, have confirmed and extended high-grade gold mineralisation, suggesting discovery potential for a Carlin-type gold system. Results included up to 6.10m at 13.12g/t gold sampled across multiple fault structures.

Outlook

 

Investors have rewarded GMET’s adept strategic positioning and continued progress on the ground, pushing the company’s share price up by 80pc to 60p at the time of writing, and its market cap to £97m. That price has fallen back from highs of nearly 70p in July, suggesting the possibility the company’s value may resume its rise as it enters one of its most active phases, mobilising multiple rigs across its flagship projects. Flush with funds, and aligned with the objectives of a US administration with unprecedented focus on promoting domestic production, all seems set fair for GMET to build on its impressive progress.

 

Read the latest Question and Answer session with Guardian Metal Resources PLC here