en.Wedoany.com Reported - U.S. Guardian Metal Resources has established a strategic partnership with the Montana Mining Association (MMA) to launch a tungsten mining and recovery pilot project aimed at supporting U.S. domestic defense applications.
The collaboration also includes Montana Technological University (MTU) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL). Under the agreement, Guardian Metal Resources will supply approximately 250 to 400 tons of historical ore from its Tempiute tungsten project near Rachel, Nevada.
These ores, accumulated from previous mining operations, are planned to be transported to Philipsburg, Montana for pilot processing. The Tempiute site (also known as the Emerson tungsten mine) has a production history dating back to 1916, with its last operational period in the 1980s. Metallurgical testing of the ore is currently underway in laboratories in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The first shipment of ore to the processing facility is scheduled for late summer 2026, pending completion of the aforementioned studies and pilot-scale testing at the Montana site. The pilot project aims to develop methods for processing historical tailings and legacy ores, and to explore the feasibility of commercial production of tungsten metal powder in the United States.
This move aligns with U.S. efforts to establish a domestic tungsten supply chain, as tungsten has been designated by the U.S. government as a priority metal for national security. Success of the pilot could lead to additional ore shipments from Tempiute to scale up processing. Guardian Metal Resources CEO Oliver Friesen noted that the selection of Tempiute as the feedstock source is a strong endorsement of the strategic significance of its wholly Nevada-based tungsten project portfolio, emphasizing that the security of tungsten supply is more critical than ever to U.S. defense and industrial capabilities, and that this initiative represents a tangible step toward establishing a fully domestic supply chain and reducing reliance on foreign sources.
In July 2025, the company expanded its mining operations by acquiring the Pilot North tungsten project in Nevada.
