Great Western Mining (GWMO ) has released details of its upcoming exploration plans at the Defender-Pine Crow tungsten project in Mineral County, Nevada.
This follows the receipt of highly encouraging assay results at Defender in January 2026.
Great Western is now entering a period of accelerated exploration activity, with the objective of defining a maiden mineral resource estimate in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The plan is to assess a three kilometre-long mineralised trend between Defender and Great Western’s already established resource at M2.
Detailed mapping and geophysical surveys are commencing this month, ahead of the planned start of drilling in June.
The company is also anticipating additional assay results from new channel cuts in the second quarter of this year.
"Defender is shaping up to have the potential to become a tungsten discovery of considerable scale and significance,” said Great Western’s chairman Brian Hall.
“Its’ geological setting, noting its proximity to Guardian Metals' Pilot Mountain project approximately 30 miles away, reinforces our confidence that we are operating within a highly prospective polymetallic district. We have designed the upcoming exploration programme to accelerate progress toward a maiden mineral resource estimate, which we see as a key catalyst in unlocking value at Defender and across our broader portfolio. Importantly, Defender appears to represent the far eastern extension of a mineralised trend that includes our M2 resource, located more than three kilometres to the southwest, highlighting the potential continuity and district-scale opportunity. This is clearly an underexplored area with substantial upside and we are eager to commence systematic work to define the full scale of the mineralised system."
View from Vox
Defender-Pine Crow has looked increasingly prospective since Great Western undertook a machine-cut channel sampling programme at Defender at the end of last year. Two channels returned significant tungsten mineralisation, including six metres at 0.17% tungsten trioxide and 16 metres at 0.30% WO₃. Silver mineralisation was also intersected within Channel B. With tungsten prices riding high, there is everything to play for.