Trades in ASX-listed tungsten explorer Tungsten Mining NL (ASX:TGN) stayed relatively quiet on Tuesday, despite the company unveiling a major drilling campaign at its QLD-based Watershed Tungsten Project (WTP).
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The company’s shares are already up nearly +200% on a YoY basis as the notoriously sturdy metal often used in defence applications becomes the subject of multilateral strategic mineral supply agreements, as well as undergoing shortages in its own right.
In fact, just this month, the US effectively moved to curb exports of tungsten scrap, requiring deliveries to go purely to US-based customers.
Tungsten prices have climbed as much as +800% in some jurisdictions in recent history as a conflation of supply chain factors put the bite on supply. At the same time, underpinning the tungsten thematic in general, the metal typically finds high demand in defence applications – underscoring where some of the existing supply is going.
While Tungsten Mining firing up its drill run still puts it a while out from commercial mining, it’s unlikely that the major global factors pressuring the tungsten market will go anywhere anytime soon.
With that surely in the mind of geotechs and drill teams alike, Tungsten Mining is setting out to drill 15,000m worth of core equivalent using RC drills targeting 175 different holes.
A diamond drill campaign will meanwhile target 75 holes for 5,700m of core to underpin metallurgical and geotechnical knowledge as the contours of mineralisation at Watershed are made clearer to the company.
Results will ultimately inform a JORC resource, a mine plan and open pit design – depending on how impatient you are, those results are due a while out in October.
“The RC drilling is concentrated within areas of known high-grade mineralisation … at the same time, the diamond program will provide the metallurgical samples and geotechnical information required to refine process design, pit design and detailed engineering,” TGN Chair Gary Lyons said.
“Together, these programs will further enhance the technical definition of Watershed and help reduce project development risk as we advance.”
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