Western Star Resources (CSE:WSR) has acquired the past-producing Eagle Point Tungsten Mine located in New Mexico, US.
Under the acquisition, Western Star will pay C$150,000 ($151,777) and issue four million shares to the vendors. The company will also grant the vendors a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on the property, of which 1% can be repurchased for C$1 million.
Closing of the transaction remains subject to satisfying customary conditions, including receiving regulatory approvals.
Eagle Point has a long history of examination, with a documented record of discovery and production. The mine was discovered in 1940 and has produced 1,800 tonnes of ore that was shipped during the Second World War at a grade of 0.5% tungsten oxide.
Western Star intends to advance Eagle Point by conducting a property-wide, high-resolution drone magnetic geophysical survey to generate drill targets, as well as undertaking systematic rock chip and soil geochemical sampling. The sampling will characterise the distribution, grade, and continuity of tungsten and molybdenum mineralisation and follow up on US Geological Survey results.
Field mapping and verification of historical workings will also be carried out, supported by ultraviolet fluorescence surveying of outcrops and dumps to rapidly identify scheelite.
Everything Western Star needs
President and CEO Blake Morgan says recent US Geological Survey results returned a sample grading more than 27% tungsten oxide, with a meaningful molybdenum credit on top.
“The deposit was considered prospective enough that the US Government approved and funded an exploration contract over it in the 1950s — one that was never drilled,” Morgan says.
“Eagle Point is the kind of asset you build a company around. It brings together everything we look for in one place — high-grade tungsten, a documented production history, eight separate skarn bodies exposed at surface, and a tier-one US jurisdiction.
“We’re acquiring 24 claims over a system that already produced tungsten and earned federal backing, in a country with no domestic production and an urgent need to rebuild its supply chain.”
Tungsten is considered indispensable for defence, aerospace, energy, and advanced manufacturing applications. The US currently has no domestic commercial tungsten production and is highly dependent on imports, with 85% of global supply controlled by China.
Western Star is a mineral explorer and developer focused on critical minerals in the US and Canada.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Western Star Resources
