Guardian Metal Resources (NYSE.A: GMTL, LON: GMET) announced Wednesday it has acquired Lincoln Estates Group LLC, which includes 841 acres of real property as well as 2,540 acre-feet of annual water rights across three permits within the Lincoln County Water District.
Lincoln Estates is located less than 10 miles from the company’s Tempiute project, located in south-central Nevada less than 250 miles southeast of the Company’s Pilot Mountain tungsten project.
Guardian Metal retains the right to assign and/or transfer the beneficial interest in the water rights for use within the service area, which includes Tempiute.
Formerly known as the Emerson tungsten mine, Tempiute is a significant past producer, which was originally discovered in 1916 and most recently operated during the 1980s by Union Carbide.
Tungsten is the material of choice for a — penetrators — which are high-density, armour-piercing projectiles. It’s also required in US Department of War contracts.
Last year, Guardian got a $6.2 million award from the DoW to advance Pilot Mountain.
Securing water and land rights marks an important key derisking milestone for the project as its workstreams advance, the company said.
Combined with Tempiute’s existing infrastructure, this acquisition enhances the project’s development potential and advances Guardian Metal’s goal of building a resilient U.S. domestic tungsten supply chain, reducing reliance on foreign sources while reinforcing economic and defense security, it said.
Tungsten production in the US ceased in 2015, when it was no longer commercially viable due to low prices and competition from China.
Tungsten prices have powered into record-high territory this year, fueled by China’s tightening export controls and surging military demand, with supplies stretched thin.
“We believe securing these water and property rights materially de-risks and supports the accelerated advancement of the Tempiute Tungsten Project,” Guardian Metal CEO Oliver Friesen said in a news release.
“These rights, together with the substantial infrastructure remaining from Tempiute’s last period of operation in the 1980s, further strengthen the Project’s foundation for redevelopment,” Friesen said.
“Our on-site team continues to make meaningful progress across multiple workstreams, and this acquisition secures a range of strategic opportunities that will facilitate the next stages of project exploration and development.”
Guardian Metal Resources stock was down 4.3% in late afternoon trading in New York. The company has a $620.85 million market capitalization.
