Wartime Tungsten District Greenlit for Modern Exploration in New Mexico

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Monday, June 15, 2026

Tungsten sits on every U.S. critical-minerals short list, yet America has no active commercial mine supply and imports essentially all of its requirements. With China controlling roughly 85% of global output (Source), developers that can point to domestic, past-producing skarn targets in tier-one jurisdictions are drawing fresh attention from institutional investors tracking Western supply-chain resilience. Today, a Canadian explorer logged single-session gains after expanding its domestic critical-minerals portfolio into a historic New Mexico district.

Western Star Resources Inc. (CNX: WSR) (OTCPK: WSRIF) advanced Monday after announcing a binding deal to complete a 100% acquisition of the past-producing Eagle Point tungsten project in Hidalgo County, New Mexico. The transaction adds 24 lode mining claims in the Granite Pass area of the Little Hatchet mining district, expanding Western Star's U.S. tungsten footprint beyond its Nevada holdings into a structural target corridor with a history of strategic wartime shipping, repeated federal geological study, and eight distinct outcropping skarn bodies that have never been tested with modern drilling.

Under the commercial terms of the agreement, Western Star has agreed to pay $150,000 in cash and issue 4.0M common shares upon final closing. The deal is subject to a 1.5% net smelter returns (NSR) royalty, with a 1.0% of the royalty buyback for $1.0M. Historical estimates from the property cite 100,000 to 150,000 tons grading approximately 0.5%. Recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sampling from outcropping skarn units returned geochemical values up 27.6% WO₃ (219,000 ppm W) and 0.98% Mo, significantly exceeding historical mill-feed averages.

Management plans to launch an aggressive, systematic exploration pipeline to define near-surface targets. Chief Executive Officer Blake Morgan highlighted that Eagle Point combines high-grade surface mineralization, an established production pedigree, and a tier-one U.S. address that has remained completely untouched by modern exploration technology. Near-term field programs will focus on a comprehensive property-wide drone magnetic geophysical survey, detailed rock-and-soil grid geochemistry, and ultra-violet (UV) fluorescence contact mapping to outline precise structural constraints ahead of first-pass drill testing.

WSR / WSRIF shares responded favorably to the strategic asset expansion, climbing 7.0% / 6.8% to trade at $0.38 / US$0.27.

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