Guardian’s Nevada tungsten revival: PFS design and risk notes for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Guardian Metals is advancing a pre-feasibility study at its Pilot Mountain tungsten project in Nevada, targeting completion in the first half of next year as it positions the historic district for a potential restart. The work is expected to refine open-pit and underground mine designs, update JORC-compliant resource estimates for tungsten, copper and silver, and optimise processing flowsheets for scheelite and wolframite concentrates. For geotechnical and mine planners, the PFS will be critical for pit slope parameters, underground ground support regimes and tailings storage options in an arid, seismically active setting.
Technical Brief
- Legacy mine openings and shafts require systematic re-entry inspections, gas testing and ground support re-certification.
- The brownfield setting demands updated geotechnical mapping of old stopes to identify loose backs and wedge failures.
- Arid climate conditions necessitate strict dust control, heat-stress management and fire-risk protocols for surface operations.
- Tailings and waste rock facilities must address potential acid generation from copper-bearing material and long-term seepage control.
- Rehabilitation of historic waste dumps and workings will need modern safety bunding, fencing and public access exclusion.
- For similar tungsten camp revivals, systematic reconciliation of historic plans with modern ground-penetrating and drone surveys is becoming standard.
Our Take
Tungsten appears in only a handful of keyword-matched pieces in our database, so a Nevada-focused project like Pilot Mountain stands out against the usual dominance of gold, copper and battery metals in United States coverage.
Nevada projects in our Mining and Projects-tagged stories more often involve precious metals, which suggests tungsten developers there may face less direct competition for certain permitting and infrastructure resources but also a thinner local supply chain tailored to this commodity.
With activity at Pilot Mountain framed on a time horizon of the first half of next year, operators will likely be locking in contractors and safety systems now, at a point when United States labour and equipment markets are tight across the 67 Mining stories we track, particularly for underground-capable crews and drill rigs.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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