Huge tungsten deposits have been discovered.

US mining firm 3 Proton Lithium (3PL) announced that it has discovered the largest tungsten deposit in the country, but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States has blocked large-scale development of the mining area.

According to a resource assessment report released by 3PL, after the company recently completed drilling operations, it confirmed the tungsten deposit discovery at its Railroad Valley Minerals Project located in the remote area of the Great Basin Desert in eastern Nevada, USA.

However, NASA stated that roughly one-third of 3PL's mineral rights area is located in a special-purpose zone, which is used to receive and track signals transmitted from satellites to the Earth. Carrying out mining activities here will threaten the operation of relevant space missions.

Source: 3PL's social media account

In response, Kevin Moore, Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of 3PL, said that this discovery is far more than a mining project, but a national security issue. He pointed out that the United States stopped tungsten mining ten years ago, which has led to its full dependence on imports at present.

To push forward the project, 3PL has raised nearly 50 million US dollars and lobbied the Trump administration and Congress, seeking to overturn the mining and exploration ban implemented by the US Bureau of Land Management in 2023.

This ban was implemented at the request of NASA. NASA has long used this flat and desolate desert terrain to conduct calibration tests on satellite instruments, so as to ensure that the data obtained by satellites is accurate and in line with unified standards.

Moore said that the 2023 decision was made under the condition of "incomplete information", which was caused by the lack of full communication between NASA and the company. At present, the company is promoting the settlement of the problem through formal channels, hoping to finally develop this resource and bring strategic benefits to the United States.

According to 3PL's assessment, the resource volume of this deposit is about 1.78 million tons. If it is proven to have commercial mining value in the future, its scale will be more than five times that of the second largest tungsten deposit currently in the United States.

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Calculated at the current price, the 3PL deposit is valued at about 152 billion US dollars. Since February 2025, the global tungsten price has risen by nearly 600% in total due to the strong demand for tungsten metal in aerospace, military and other industries.

Last year, 3PL's Railroad Valley Project was included in the US federal FAST-41 fast approval program to speed up the project permitting process.

The report also pointed out that 3PL holds lease rights and mining rights in an area of about 58 square miles near Ely, a city in eastern Nevada, and has proven abundant lithium, boron and potash resources in large underground salt layers.

The Trump administration has always taken critical minerals as a strategic priority. Last November, US mining investment firm Cove Capital reached an agreement with the government of Kazakhstan to develop a tungsten mining and processing plant locally.

Analysts believe that the discovery of such a large-scale tungsten deposit will undoubtedly arouse high attention from the US government, especially against the backdrop of tight global supply.

However, analysts also remind that even if the land use right issue is finally resolved, it may still take several years to realize the actual mine development.

Timothy Puko, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said: "When the price is at such a high level, it is easy to attract market attention to new projects or new deposits. At present, there are roughly more than 20 junior mining companies around the world, all of which hope to take advantage of this round of price increase to promote their own projects."

He added: "Even if everything goes smoothly, it will take about five years at the earliest to realize mine development, and many changes may still occur during this period."

This article is from the WeChat official account "CLS", author: Zhao Hao, published by 36Kr with authorization.