Pentagon Commits $450 Million to Elmet Group, Directs $150 Million to Restart Nevada Tungsten Mine

Since the Trump administration began taking direct equity positions in critical-minerals companies like MP Materials, Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals earlier this year, the Department of War has extended that same playbook to tungsten. On Monday, September 14, the department announced a $450 million committed investment in The Elmet Group (Nasdaq: ELMT), with $150 million of that specifically earmarked for Blue Moon Metals' (TSXV: MOON; Nasdaq: BMM) Springer tungsten complex in Nevada.

The deal is binding and includes Australia's EQ Resources (ASX: EQR). Blue Moon gets a $50 million tungsten concentrate prepayment facility and a $25 million equity investment. Elmet is putting $75 million into a joint venture to restart Springer's ammonium paratungstate, or APT, processing plant, with Elmet and EQ setting aside another $25 million if needed. That adds up exactly to the $150 million figure the Pentagon attached to Springer.

Blue Moon keeps full ownership of the mine and its 1,200-tonne-per-day mill. The APT joint venture splits differently: Elmet owns 70%, Blue Moon 20%, EQ Resources 10%, with Elmet operating the plant, according to Northern Miner and Mining.com.

Wall Street likes it

Haywood Securities analyst Pierre Vaillancourt kept his buy rating and C$15 target on Blue Moon, calling the financing "a major validation event" that de-risks Springer while letting the company keep the mine and mill. Scotiabank's Eric Winmill maintained a sector outperform rating and a $14 target, saying the mix of offtake, downstream participation and government backing cuts Blue Moon's financing and market-access risk.

Blue Moon shares rose 6.5% to C$8.08 in Toronto trading Monday afternoon, putting the company's market value at roughly C$807 million, per Northern Miner.

Government takes a stake, not just a check

The money isn't a grant. The Department of War will draw down $200 million at closing and the rest in later tranches, according to Mining.com and a Reuters report carried by KFGO. In exchange, the department gets redeemable preferred equity representing up to 19.9% of Elmet's common stock, plus the right to appoint one independent director and one non-voting board observer.

More than $165 million of the total is slated for Elmet's US plants in Maine, Michigan and Ohio. The funding flows through the department's Economic Defense Unit, whose director, George K. Kollitides II, said the unit exists "to identify critical industrial chokepoints before adversaries can exploit them." Assistant Secretary of War for industrial base policy Mike Cadenazzi said expanding domestic tungsten processing would "reinforce the production base behind essential defense systems."

The federal government now holds or is pursuing equity positions across at least four critical-minerals companies this year. That's taxpayer money exposed to commodity-price and execution risk in private firms, with the state also sitting on their boards. Supporters call it a targeted, time-limited fix for a genuine national-security gap. Critics of government picking corporate winners would call it the same drift toward industrial policy conservatives have long opposed when Democrats proposed it for green energy. The structure here—preferred equity with warrants rather than a blank grant—is at least designed to let taxpayers get repaid.

A second, separate contract

Separately, an Elmet unit was awarded a roughly $2 billion contract by the Defense Logistics Agency to help rebuild the National Defense Stockpile, with a guaranteed funded commitment of $150 million, Reuters reported via KFGO. The contract covers tungsten ores, concentrates and sodium tungstate. Elmet said it won't begin stockpile deliveries until new supply from its mining investments and offtake deals comes online, specifically to avoid siphoning material away from existing US manufacturers.

Elmet CEO Peter V. Anania tied the moment to the company's own trajectory, noting the investment comes "following our successful IPO earlier this year and recent expansion into Europe." Elmet held an investor call Monday morning to walk through the terms.

The China math driving it

The Pentagon puts China's share of global tungsten supply at about 85%. A 2026 US Geological Survey report cited by the Epoch Times puts China's share of mined tungsten at 83%, alongside 79% of natural graphite production and 98% of primary refined gallium. Elmet already supplies tungsten for more than 100 defense programs, including the Patriot, Javelin, Trident II and Virginia- and Columbia-class submarine programs, according to Military.com.

The department framed the urgency partly around readiness concerns tied to ongoing military operations against Iran. President Trump said in August the US "has massive amounts" of weapons being manufactured and shipped as needed. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell on Sunday he was "not concerned at all" about munitions depletion. Neither statement is directly about tungsten stockpiles. Both frame the broader supply-chain push the Elmet deal fits into.

Blue Moon's Springer mine and mill are targeted to restart production by the end of 2027, with the APT facility following by mid-2028, according to the company. Whether Elmet can hit those milestones, and whether the government's 19.9% stake ever pays off for taxpayers, won't be answerable for at least another eighteen months.