Mining Press Roundup: 3 Proton Lithium's Nevada Tungsten Discovery Faces NASA Land Dispute

Critical minerals developer 3 Proton Lithium (3PL) says its Railroad Valley Minerals Project hosts an inferred tungsten resource of 1.78 million tonnes, more than five times larger than the next biggest known US deposit if it proves commercially viable. The discovery comes at a critical moment for US supply security, but the Bureau of Land Management withdrew roughly 17 square miles from mining and exploration in 2023 at NASA's request.

Tungsten prices have surged nearly 600% since early 2025 on rising demand from the aerospace, defence and industrial sectors and tighter supply following Chinese export controls.

3 Proton Lithium: Largest US Tungsten Discovery Hits NASA Roadblock

The company estimates the in-situ value at about $152 billion based on current prices, although the blocked area has not yet been included in the resource estimate. According to the company's announcement, the Railroad Valley project in eastern Nevada also contains lithium, boron, and potash resources in underground salt beds.

3PL chair and chief financial officer Kevin Moore told the Financial Times the issue is "a national security story," arguing the US abandoned domestic tungsten mining about a decade ago and now relies on imports while China dominates global supply. NASA opposes mining on about one-third of the company's claims. The agency uses the flat Nevada desert to calibrate satellite instruments and says mining would interfere with a unique site used to receive and verify satellite signals.

The timing is critical. According to a March Bloomberg report, tungsten prices more than doubled during the year and rose 557% since China added certain tungsten products to its export control list in February 2025.

China controls about 80% of global tungsten production.

The Trump administration has moved to strengthen domestic supplies of critical minerals, with the Railroad Valley project included in the federal FAST-41 program, which aims to accelerate permitting for nationally significant infrastructure projects.

Selkirk Copper: Resource Update Nearly Triples Contained Metal at Minto Mine

The update outlines 47.8 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.89% copper, 0.34 gram gold per tonne and 3.2 grams silver for 940 million lb. copper, 530,000 oz. gold and about 4.8 million oz. silver, Selkirk reported Thursday.

Compared with last year's estimate, contained measured and indicated copper increased 181%, gold 183% and silver 192%, although copper grades declined by roughly one quarter as additional lower-grade tonnes were incorporated into the resource.

Located roughly 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Whitehorse in the traditional territory of Selkirk First Nation, Minto produced more than 500 million pounds of copper over 16 years of open-pit and underground mining, along with significant gold and silver byproducts, before shutting down in 2023. The updated resource is being used to develop a new preliminary economic assessment for the First Nation-owned project. According to market data, copper miners rallied today with COPX trading up 4.8% to $83.19 as copper supply concerns intensified.

GBM: Acquiring Lomiko Metals for Quebec Graphite Project

Global Battery Materials agreed to buy developer Lomiko Metals (TSXV: LMR; US-OTC: LMRMF) in an all-share deal valued at about $11 million (US$7.9 million) that will give the private company control of the La Loutre graphite project in Quebec.

The deal values Lomiko at 13¢ per share, a 71% premium to the stock's 20-day volume weighted average trading price on the TSX Venture Exchange for the period ending Monday, GBM said Tuesday in a statement.

Lomiko's main asset is the La Loutre graphite project, one of the biggest flake graphite deposits in North America. In March, the company released a preliminary feasibility study outlining an after-tax net present value of C$617.4 million, a 24.7% internal rate of return and a 3.2-year payback based on average graphite prices of $1,524 per tonne. The initial capital cost was estimated at C$504.6 million.

Closely held GBM is working to restart the Kearney graphite mine in Ontario, which is estimated to hold one of the largest flake graphite deposits outside of China, in late 2027. A preliminary economic assessment this month valued the project at $183 million while pegging future cash flow at nine times the initial capital cost. The transaction requires shareholder, court and regulatory approvals before closing, expected in the fourth quarter.

Kavango Resources: Commissioning Begins at Zimbabwe Gold Mine

Kavango Resources plc has successfully installed and commenced commissioning of its 50 tonne per day gold processing plant at the Hillside project in Zimbabwe, marking a significant transition towards operational testing and potential commercial production. Processing began on July 1, 2026, utilizing material from Kavango's own operations, and achieved an average capacity utilization of 69% between July 18-28, 2026, with gold being successfully adsorbed in the carbon-in-leach circuit.

The company has also established an on-site laboratory to support plant optimization and exploration activities, and the Hillside project's Bill's Luck Underground hosts a JORC-compliant mineral resource of 33,900 ounces of gold at a grade of 2.68g/t, with expected operating recoveries of 90-93%. The commissioning marks a key milestone for the Southern Africa-focused junior as it transitions from exploration to production. Gold traded at $4,053 per ounce today according to market data, down 0.5% but still near historic highs.

Perpetua Resources: Antimony Pilot Plant Opens with US Army Partnership

Perpetua Resources (Nasdaq: PPTA), the U.S. Army and Idaho National Laboratory launched a new modular mineral processing pilot plant at INL in Idaho Falls, marked by a ribbon-cutting on July 29, 2026. The facility is designed to process antimony samples from Perpetua's Stibnite Gold Project in central Idaho to demonstrate production of high-quality antimony trisulfide for specialized military and industrial uses.

The plant is part of a multi-year collaboration via the Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium to build a fully domestic "ground-to-round" antimony supply chain. According to Perpetua Resources, the Stibnite Gold Project hosts the only identified domestic antimony reserve, received final federal approvals in 2025, and has entered early works construction.

In recent years, China and Russia have dominated the global production of antimony, leaving the United States heavily reliant on foreign sources of the critical mineral. In 2021, China ceased providing the United States with the specialized form of antimony trisulfide essential for more than 300 types of ammunition. The pilot plant represents a strategic effort to rebuild domestic critical minerals processing capabilities for defense applications.

Hades Mining: German Startup Secures Rare Earth License

According to the company's press materials, Hades received a license for the Storkwitz Rare Earth Project in February 2026.

Storkwitz in Saxony, Germany, is a carbonatite-hosted rare earth deposit identified during East German geological surveys, containing an estimated resource of approximately 30,000 tonnes of TREO at depth. The deposit was explored by Deutsche Rohstoffagentur (DERA) and has attracted intermittent development interest given Germany's position as Europe's largest rare earth consumer via its automotive and industrial sectors.

Hades has raised a €15M pre-emptive Seed round co-led by HV Capital and Headline. Visionaries Tomorrow doubled down alongside Project A. Hades is a vertically integrated resource-extraction company with proprietary high-power laser drilling technology at its core. The system is designed to drill faster, cheaper, and cleaner than conventional methods - particularly in deep and hard rock formations, where prohibitive drilling costs have historically rendered deep geothermal and in-situ mineral recovery uneconomical. The license win positions Germany to develop domestic rare earth supply as Europe seeks to reduce dependence on Chinese imports.

What It Means

Today's announcements underscore the intensifying geopolitical dimension of critical minerals development. The 3 Proton Lithium tungsten discovery highlights the tension between strategic resource development and competing federal land uses—a NASA satellite calibration site is blocking access to what could be the largest domestic tungsten deposit just as Chinese export controls have driven prices up nearly 600%. Similarly, the Perpetua antimony pilot plant and Hades rare earth license reflect Western governments' urgent push to rebuild domestic supply chains for defense-critical materials.

The deals and project milestones also reveal capital flowing toward battery metals and base metals with strong fundamentals. GBM's acquisition of Lomiko consolidates North American graphite assets, while Selkirk Copper's resource expansion at Minto—nearly tripling contained copper—comes as copper miners rallied 4.8% today on supply concerns. Kavango's commissioning in Zimbabwe and the broader activity in gold projects reflects continued strength in precious metals, with gold holding above $4,000 per ounce despite today's modest pullback. The common thread: investors and governments alike are prioritizing projects that can deliver near-term production in commodities where supply security has become a strategic imperative.

This roundup covers press releases published on August 4, 2026. Company announcements are sourced from mining industry wire services. For corrections or updates, contact contact@stakeandpaper.com.