Nevada tungsten discovery faces NASA regulatory hurdles

A massive tungsten deposit has been discovered in Nevada, potentially representing the largest known resource of the metal in the United States. Developer 3 Proton Lithium (3PL) reports that its Railroad Valley Minerals project contains approximately 1.78 million metric tons of tungsten, a find estimated to be five times larger than the country’s next-largest resource.

The deposit, located at depths of 360 to 850 meters, also contains significant reserves of lithium, estimated at 119 million tons. Tungsten is a critical raw material used in semiconductors, aerospace hardware, and munitions, a market currently dominated by China.

However, development faces significant regulatory and institutional hurdles. Approximately 44 square kilometers of the site overlap with a NASA calibration area used for Earth-observing satellites. In 2023, the Interior Department withdrew roughly 23,000 acres of the valley from mineral leasing for 20 years at NASA’s request to prevent interference with satellite instrument calibration. While the project has received FAST-41 status to expedite federal permitting, the conflict between mineral extraction and NASA’s scientific operations remains a primary obstacle.