American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4) secures permitted Utah mill to anchor district consolidation strategy

American Tungsten & Antimony has taken a material step in advancing its U.S. critical minerals strategy through binding agreements to acquire the Dutch Mountain Tungsten Project and its associated processing facility in Utah, an asset that operated as recently as 2017 and remains the only fully permitted, operationally proven tungsten mill in the Clifton Gold Hill Mining District.

The transaction centres on infrastructure rather than exploration alone, positioning the company around an existing industrial bottleneck in a district that hosts multiple historically high grade tungsten occurrences but has lacked compliant processing capacity for decades.

Highlights

• Binding agreement to acquire the Dutch Mountain Processing Facility, a fully permitted mill on private land in Utah that last processed ore in 2017
• Acquisition includes the Fraction Lode, E.H.B. Lode and Star Dust mines, with historical production grades of 1.7% WO3 at Fraction Lode and 1.3% WO3 at E.H.B. Lode
• Facility historically produced approximately 275 t of tungsten concentrate, validating a gravity flowsheet for coarse scheelite
• Private land and state permitting potentially avoid extended federal NEPA timelines that can extend to ~7 years
• Option secured over the Sage Hen Tungsten Project in Nevada, with historical production grades of ~1.0% WO3 and additional claim staking expanding the land position
• Phase 1 programs to focus on underground mapping, mill engineering review, geophysics and permitting for drilling, funded from existing cash reserves

The Dutch Mountain acquisition is anchored by control of a processing facility that sits on private land and is permitted by the State of Utah, rather than under federal jurisdiction.

This distinction is central to the company’s development logic, given the extended timeframes and litigation risk associated with federal permitting pathways.

The mill processed ore from the Fraction Lode Mine in 2017, demonstrating that a gravity circuit optimised for coarse grained scheelite can operate under modern regulatory conditions, albeit based on historical operations rather than a current feasibility assessment.

The project package includes several historically producing tungsten systems, led by Fraction Lode, the last operating tungsten mine in the United States prior to its 2017 closure, which reported estimated head grades of 1.7% WO3 and mined averages of 1.5% WO3.

The nearby E.H.B. Lode historically produced 2,374 t at an average grade of 1.3% WO3, while Star Dust represents an additional skarn system within the same intrusive contact zone.

All production and grade data are classified as historical estimates under JORC, unverified by a Competent Person, and subject to material uncertainty.

Geologically, the Clifton district records superimposed Jurassic and Eocene tungsten fertile events, with high grade scheelite skarns developed along limestone intrusive contacts and earlier copper gold tungsten veins and breccias.

The company describes a long lived hydrothermal plumbing system capable of hosting both high grade skarn bodies and broader lower grade halos, a framework that underpins its assessment of the district as suitable for a processing led consolidation strategy.

Management has framed the mill as the critical enabling asset. As Managing Director Andre Booyzen stated,

“By acquiring the Dutch Mountain Project we also acquire a fully permitted processing facility on private land that operated as recently as 2017, the Company is aiming to reduce its development timeline from the regulatory delays that have constrained many U.S. mining projects.”

Beyond Utah, AT4 has secured an option over the Sage Hen Tungsten Project in Nevada, part of the broader Nightingale Staggs Trend. Sage Hen was a historical producer in the 1950s with reported grades of ~1.0% WO3 and hand sorted shipments of up to 1.3% WO3.

The company has expanded its landholding through the staking of 205 additional unpatented lode claims, consolidating a contiguous position across prospective intrusive carbonate contacts and roof pendant geometries interpreted to host blind skarn bodies at depth.

Near term work programs are defined rather than open ended, with planned underground mapping and sampling of the Fraction Lode workings and an engineering review of the Dutch Mountain mill to assess refurbishment and potential expansion.

At Sage Hen, ground magnetics and gravity surveys are scheduled to image intrusive contacts and prioritise drill targets, followed by permitting for maiden drilling, with both programs expected to commence in late Q1 or early Q2 and to be funded from existing cash reserves.

In an industry context increasingly focused on secure Western supply chains for critical minerals, AT4’s strategy is notable for its emphasis on permitted infrastructure as the foundation for district scale development.

While all grade and production data remain historical and exploration outcomes uncertain, control of a functioning tungsten mill in a jurisdiction such as Utah provides a rare starting point for advancing what has long been a fragmented and processing constrained province.

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