U.S. Hits New Obstacle on Critical Mineral Security Course
- NASA opposition threatens major U.S. tungsten discovery, as the agency says mining could interfere with satellite communications despite the deposit's strategic importance.
- The Nevada find could be worth $152 billion, potentially becoming the largest U.S. tungsten deposit, at a time when China controls about 80% of global supply and prices have surged.
- The dispute highlights the challenge of securing domestic critical minerals, as Washington pushes to reduce dependence on China while balancing national security, infrastructure, and regulatory hurdles.
The race for critical metals and minerals has been heating up since President Trump took office, pitting the U.S. against many of its international allies. Yet while the federal government spends billions to build a position in critical minerals and challenge China’s dominance, there have been setbacks—even at home.
Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that a company had made the biggest discovery of tungsten in the United States. Tungsten is a critical metal that is used in applications ranging from electronics to defense and aviation, all key sectors of the U.S. economy. However, there is a problem with the discovery. NASA is opposing any further development work.
The company that made the discovery, 3 Proton Lithium, drilled in a remote section of the Great Basin Desert in Nevada. According to NASA, a large portion of the area is being used to track satellite signals sent to Earth from space. The agency insists that any mining work there would compromise the tracking. The agency has already blocked drilling in the area where it tracks satellite signals.
“This is a metal the United States stopped mining a decade ago and now imports, while China controls and manipulates the global market,” the chief executive officer of 3 Proton Lithium told the Financial Times. Kevin Moore also told the publication that the Nevada discovery is more than “a mining story”. “It is a national security story,” he said.
Indeed, President Trump has prioritized expansion in critical minerals as a matter of national security, which is clear enough seeing how many critical elements are used in electronics and the defense industry. Yet local supply of these has been difficult to come by despite a couple of promising discoveries. The Nevada tungsten one is also yet to be proven commercially viable.
For now, the resources in place are estimated at 1.78 million tons, which would be five times bigger than the next tungsten deposit in the United States, according to the FT. In money terms, the discovery is even more impressive: 3PL estimates its value at $152 billion because of surging tungsten prices—due to a massive shortage of the metal.
The price rally in tungsten highlights the national security aspect of critical minerals such as tungsten. It was caused by export limits announced by China earlier this year, combined with stronger demand for military applications amid two hot wars.
For about five years now, the United States has been on a critical mineral hunt around the world, offering premium prices in order to secure critical minerals it needs for its military machinery, outbidding its allies from the European Union, as the Wall Street Journal reported last month. Over that period, Washington has spent about $46 billion on trying to build a critical mineral supply chain that does not depend heavily on China. “The U.S. can be a partner in developing alternative sources, but it can also be a competitor,” the secretary-general of the Aerospace, Security and Defense Industries Association of Europe told the WSJ.
This endeavor would take time, just like it did China, and domestic supply and processing capabilities will be key, just like they are for China. This makes the tungsten discovery in Nevada even more important—if its commercial viability is proven, of course.
China controls 80% of the global tungsten market, the FT notes in its report. Following the surge in demand due to the ongoing wars and China’s export curbs—which are not limited to just tungsten, by the way—prices for the metal soared by 600% since last year. Of course, a discovery takes a while to turn into an operational mine, but long-term thinking is always advisable when it comes to national security—and long-term critical mineral supply security begins at home.
