A highly strategic processing plant and ore stockpile acquisition, combined with an aggressive drilling campaign, has Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) on track to become a domestic tungsten producer, while it also advances the continued testing of its massive gold targets next to the neighbouring 6Moz Stibnite mine – which is just 5km away and owned by US$3.2 billion market cap Perpetua Resources’ (NASDAQ: PPTA). Testing of the stockpiled ore at the newly acquired Johnson Creek Tungsten and Antimony Mill has confirmed both an outstanding grade of 1.85% WO3 and 0.11g/t Au, as well as the material being of the same mineralogy as the ore at Golden Gate – where RML was just drilling and will soon be launching a heavily expanded 45-hole, 13,700m diamond drill campaign due to begin in May. The war in Iran has been eviscerating US tungsten inventory – and America hasn’t mined any tungsten since 2015 while China has a stranglehold over 80% of global supply – so the Pentagon has demanded that viable domestic projects make themselves known and be in line to receive emergency development funding packages of US$100-500 million, which will directly feed into the US$12 billion critical minerals stockpile initiative. The tungsten price has continued to break through new all time highs virtually every week for months, skyrocketing from US$400/mtu a year ago to at least US$2,800/mtu now – hitting the equivalent of over US$335,000/t for tungsten metal and turning the commodity into a US$28 billion industry. The mainstay large-cap name Almonty Industries (ASX: AII – TSX: All – NASDAQ: ALM) has swelled up to a US$4.1 billion market cap as it geared up for production – reaching a high of US$6.4 billion – but the market is yet to wake up to the explorers who have been busy acquiring past producing assets inside the US – which is what $107 million market cap RML has been swiftly executing. It is only a matter of time until this liquidity trickles down to the smaller end of the market and lifts the valuations of high-quality assets with near-term production potential.
RML recently announced a 45 hole, 13,700m diamond drilling campaign that will define the scale of gold mineralisation at Golden Gate, which will be following up incredible assays such as 253m at 1.5g/t Au from surface and 197.5m at 1.26 g/t from 34m, while also testing high priority extensions to the historical tungsten mine workings (which recently hit 8m at 0.14% WO₃ in a gold dominant section) and discovering new veins that can be mined. There is a lot to gain from extensively drilling out Golden Gate in order to understand the dispersion of gold and tungsten and how they are associated with each other, in terms of where there are broad zones of gold with tungsten and where there are the extremely high grade zones of tungsten that are perfect for selective mining and processing through the Johnson Creek mill. RML also now has geologist David Hembree on board to drive the rapid development of Horse Heaven, and his 45 years of experience across numerous operating mines in the US – including Golden Gate 1980 – will be invaluable.
The grade that RML has in the stockpiles is truly astonishing, and it is incredibly exciting that it was mined from their project. For reference, the global average mined tungsten grade is only 0.17% WO₃, and ALM’s recently commissioned Sandong Mine in South Korea is considered one of the highest grade deposits in the world at 0.51% WO₃. ALM recently shelled out US$10 million for a 7.53 Mt at 0.315% WO₃ resource in the US when tungsten was only US$700/mtu, and United States Antimony Corp’s (NYSE: UAMY) 0.17% WO₃ recently published a resource grading 0.17% WO₃ at a Canadian project.
RML’s 2,000t of ore grading 1.85% WO3 is worth roughly US$10 million at US$2,800/mtu, which could likely be processed at very little cost given all the mining is obviously completed and the mill has previously processed this ore. Another huge bonus is the lack of impurities recorded in this 93.6kg sample make the ore exceptionally clean for tungsten feed, with arsenic at just 97ppm and both phosphorus and molybdenum below detection levels, while more than 90% of the non-ore material is just quartz – heavily bolsters its ease and suitability for downstream upgrading into APT.
While Golden Gate has a historical resource of 216koz at 0.93g/t Au – which is being built upon in the lead up to a JORC compliant deposit that is set to be defined in Q1 of next year – it also has a long history of tungsten production. The mine began as an open-pit operation in the early 1950s, which produced 1,814t at 1.5% WO3 up until 1952. Mining resumed in 1973 with 227t processed at 2.03% WO3, followed by 456.6t stockpiled at 1.8% WO3 in 1977, before the mine transitioned underground in 1979 and produced a further 1,905t of mill feed that was stockpiled.
RML also has the other main prospect at Horse Heaven – Antimony Ridge – which has historical production of over 1,000t of antimony ore that graded an astounding 45% Sb, and a recent raft of insanely high-grade rock chips up to 49.8% Sb, 1,420 g/t Ag and 3.12 g/t Au, and grab samples up to 10.35% Sb, 68.5 g/t Ag and 4.43 g/t Au. Our last article on RML focused on the many exciting similarities between Horse Heaven and the neighbouring 6Moz Stibnite mine, and you can read it here.
The US Department of War already announced the military procurement of tungsten from China, Russia and North Korea will be banned from 2027 – which will effectively eliminate 87% of supply and has ignited a serious sense of urgency to bring on production inside America. The Pentagon went out to a whole raft of mining companies the day before commencing its war on Iran, and requested detailed feasibility information on the costs involved in building a mine and processing facility for viable projects that could produce any of a list of 13 critical minerals – of which tungsten was one. The projects could be awarded development funds that range from US$100 million to over US$500 million.
The extreme tightness in supply and unavoidable rise in demand has driven overall sentiment in the tungsten market to enormous heights, and a great barometer for Western investors to assess it is ALM, which has traded as high as 15 times its start of 2025 share price, reaching a peak of US$6.35 billion and also raising US$90 million to IPO on the Nasdaq on the way there. Tungsten production actually increased by 3,000t of contained metal last year, mainly due to a new mine coming online in Kazakhstan that produced 2,400t – which did nothing to quell this price explosion. Sandong’s phase one planned production output of 230kmtu/year, or roughly 1,820t of metal, will also likely have little effect – especially in the face of increasing and insatiable defence demand.
Global spending on defence has been rising in most key regions since the US pushed for it following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Canada and the European allies of NATO boosted their defence spending nearly 20% for the second year in a row in 2025 – amounting to an increase of US$574 billion. The war in Iran is a complete game changer in terms of how much it has directly depleted the armaments of the US – who spends more on defence than all NATO allies combined.
There have been reports of tungsten changing hands for US$3,000/mtu outside of China, and the chart below shows just how rapidly the world’s hardest metal has risen in price over the past year – it has truly been parabolic, and small caps have not come close to reflecting what this environment means for their project economics:
Source: Pure Tungsten
An ultra violet lamp can be seen shining on a part of the stockpile below, which shows the scheelite mineral vividly reflecting because of the presence of tungsten. The mineralisation at this section of the stockpile is in the form of vein and disseminated scheelite, with an estimated presence of 1-30%:
Source: RML
Below is a cross section of a section from the recent drilling at Golden Gate, which shows the drill hole that hit tungsten in a zone of moderate grade gold, as well as the local geology:
Source: RML
Just for good measure, here is the brilliantly wide intercept that came from RML’s recent drilling at a different part of Golden Gate – which hit 253m at 1.5g/t Au from surface including 45.7m at 1.88g/t Au from 71.6m and 111.9m at 2.31g/t Au from 130.5m:
Source: RML
The team at RML has certainly demonstrated its ability to acquire exciting assets in the right commodity at the right time, and the company is very well positioned to take advantage of the strong tailwinds behind gold, tungsten and antimony. As the US aggressively seeks to ensure it is 100% confident in the supply of all its required critical minerals, RML can continue to play perfectly into that enduring thematic.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and marketing purposes only, and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to invest. All opinions expressed are our own. We may receive fees or other forms of compensation in connection with the publication of this content, and may own shares in any of the mentioned companies. Please do your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.