A tungsten processing plant that shut down in Imlay, Nevada more than four decades ago is coming back online, powered by a binding agreement signed on September 11 among Blue Moon Metals, The Elmet Group, and EQ Resources, and backed just three days later by a $450 million investment from the U.S. Department of War. The deal, worth at least $150 million to $175 million on its own, ties Australian tungsten mined in Queensland directly to America's push to break free of Chinese-controlled mineral supply chains.
According to The Australian Financial Review, the arrangement is worth at least $105 million and will see tungsten mined in Queensland shipped to the United States for processing, supporting broader efforts to secure non-Chinese sources of the metal. Tungsten, the outlet notes, is vital to the renewable energy, defense, and artificial intelligence sectors. Under the joint venture structure detailed by Mining Technology, Elmet holds 70 percent ownership, Blue Moon Metals holds 20 percent, and EQ Resources holds the remaining 10 percent stake in the entity that will operate the plant's ammonium paratungstate, or APT, unit.
The Nevada facility at the center of the deal, known as the Springer Tungsten Complex, sits in Imlay, Pershing County. The facility operated for less than a year before shuttering in 1982, the article notes. State environmental and bonding permits came through in August, and the partners are now targeting a mine restart in late 2027 with APT plant production beginning in the second half of 2028, at a planned capacity of 4,000 tonnes per year.
Pentagon Money Flows Straight Into The Restart
The federal government's role became explicit on September 14, when the Department of War announced its $450 million preferred equity investment in The Elmet Group, with roughly $150 million earmarked directly for the Springer project. That funding, per the Department of War, is aimed at shoring up defense supply chains. Elmet subsidiary Elmet Technologies also secured a Defense Logistics Agency contract running through August 2031, with a ceiling of up to $2 billion and a guaranteed funded commitment of $150 million, according to Finviz, to supply tungsten ores, concentrates, and compounds to the U.S. National Defense Stockpile.
That level of federal commitment is not incidental. It reflects Washington's broader effort to reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled mineral supply chains.
Queensland's Mt Carbine Mine Locks In An Eight-Year Supply Deal
On the supply side, EQ Resources will take its 10 percent joint venture stake in exchange for an eight-year offtake agreement to deliver 4,000 tonnes of contained tungsten trioxide, drawn from its mines in Australia and Spain, to the Springer plant. Per Industry Queensland, the company also secured guaranteed access to process up to 1,000 tonnes per annum of APT during the plant's first five years. EQ Resources operates the Mt Carbine mine in Queensland alongside the Barruecopardo mine in Spain.
EQ Resources is undertaking an A$39 million expansion at the mine to double crushing capacity to 2 million tonnes per annum, with commissioning targeted for Q3 FY2027. The expansion is intended to boost output.
The article also discusses the company's ownership picture.
Why Washington Is Racing To Cut Out China
The scale of the U.S. push reflects just how dominant China is in critical-mineral processing, leaving Western nations heavily reliant on Chinese processing for a metal prized for its extreme hardness and heat resistance.
Washington has been moving on multiple fronts to loosen that grip. In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce invoked Section 101 of the Defense Production Act to impose a 386-day export ban on U.S. tungsten scrap and battery waste, mandating that the material be processed domestically rather than shipped overseas, as Hoodline previously reported. That measure came as the Pentagon pursued broader efforts on critical minerals.
Whether the Springer plant's 2027-2028 timeline holds remains an open question, as does how smoothly EQ Resources' Queensland ore will integrate into Nevada's refining process once it arrives. For now, the deal stands as one of the clearest examples yet of a U.S. defense mandate reshaping global mining partnerships from the ground up.
