Pentagon Directives Add Tailwind to Nevada’s Tungsten Mining Rush
The Pentagon is moving to reduce the US defense industry’s reliance on geopolitical adversaries for critical military materials.
Under Executive Order 14415, signed by President Donald Trump on Monday (July 20), national security waivers that have allowed defense contractors to source certain strategic metals from foreign adversaries will face tighter restrictions beginning January 1, 2027.
The order enforces 10 U.S.C. 4872, closing a statutory loophole that permitted contractors to use “non-availability” waivers when compliant materials were unavailable.
Defense contractors will be required to map supply chains to the raw material level through a detailed bill of materials tracking components and materials to their origins. Temporary waivers will require mitigation plans outlining efforts to secure compliant supplies and timelines for eliminating non-compliant inputs.
Contractors that falsify plans or fail to properly vet suppliers could face contract termination, suspension and prosecution.
The strategic tungsten deficit
At the center of this supply chain overhaul is tungsten. The ultra-dense, heat-resistant metal remains critical for armor-piercing ammunition, aerospace structures, high-temperature industrial manufacturing, and high-performance semiconductors.
Despite its multisectoral application, “tungsten has not been mined commercially in the United States since 2015,” according to the USGS. This leaves the defense industrial base heavily exposed to foreign supply bottlenecks, particularly from China, which dominates global tungsten extraction and processing.
To fix this deficit, Section 4 of the new executive order instructs the Secretary of War to initiate regulatory action within 180 days to mandate alternative domestic source qualification.
Nevada: Ground zero for domestic tungsten
This directive points to market capital and focus toward Nevada, ranked globally by the Fraser Institute in 2025 as one of the world’s premier mining jurisdictions.
A cluster of domestic exploration and development companies holding past-producing deposits across the state are racing to fill the structural supply void.
Guardian Metal Resources (LSE:GMET,OTCQX:GMTLF,OTCQX:GMTLF) represents one of the most advanced domestic tungsten assets in North America. The company’s flagship Pilot Mountain project, situated 200 kilometers southeast of Reno, holds an indicated pit-constrained resource of 8.694 million tons.
A recent pre-feasibility study outlined an after-tax net present value of US$660.3 million and an internal rate of return of 59.6 percent under base-case pricing.
The Department of War previously awarded the company US$6.2 million under the Defense Production Act Title III framework to advance the study, highlighting direct federal interest in establishing Nevada processing capacity.
Guardian also controls the historic…
