American Tungsten Secures C$35M to Revive Idaho Mine Amid Global Shortage

VANCOUVER, BC – March 02, 2026 – In a powerful display of investor confidence, American Tungsten Corp. announced today that its “bought deal” private placement has been significantly upsized to C$34.78 million. The deal, led by sole underwriter Stifel Canada, was increased from an initial C$20 million announced earlier the same day, reflecting overwhelming demand for a stake in the company’s mission to resurrect a strategic U.S. tungsten asset.

The financing provides a substantial war chest for American Tungsten to accelerate the development of its flagship IMA Mine Project in Idaho. This capital injection arrives at a critical juncture, with global tungsten markets facing an unprecedented supply crunch and soaring prices, amplifying the strategic importance of establishing a reliable domestic source of the critical metal.

Under the amended agreement, Stifel Canada has committed to purchasing 12,423,000 units of the company at C$2.80 per unit. Each unit comprises one common share and one purchase warrant, with each warrant allowing the holder to acquire an additional share at C$3.75 for a period of 36 months. The offering is slated to close on or about March 18, 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

A Market Hungry for Tungsten

The intense investor appetite for American Tungsten’s offering is not happening in a vacuum. It is a direct response to a seismic shift in the global tungsten market. Tungsten, a metal prized for its extreme hardness and high melting point, is indispensable for defense, aerospace, high-tech manufacturing, and green energy applications. For years, the market was defined by stable prices and the dominance of China, which controls over 80% of global production.

That paradigm has shattered. In late 2024, Beijing imposed stringent dual-use export restrictions, causing its tungsten exports to plummet. This move, combined with falling ore grades and tightened domestic mining quotas in China, has thrown the global supply chain into disarray. The price of Ammonium Paratungstate (APT), a key tungsten benchmark, has skyrocketed from a long-term average of around $300 per tonne to over $1,700 per tonne in early 2026.

Analysts are forecasting a global supply deficit for 2026, with market tightness and elevated prices expected to persist for the remainder of the decade. This has created a geopolitical and economic imperative for Western nations to secure their own supplies. With new overseas projects facing long development cycles, the focus has shifted to brownfield sites in friendly jurisdictions that can be brought into production quickly—a category the IMA Mine fits perfectly.

Reviving an American Mining Legacy

The C$35 million in gross proceeds is earmarked primarily to advance the IMA Mine Project. Located in East Central Idaho, the IMA Mine is not a new discovery but a historic past-producer that was once the fourth-largest tungsten mine in North America before its closure in 1957 due to low commodity prices. American Tungsten is now poised to bring this legacy asset back to life.

The company's strategy is to fast-track the mine's restart, targeting a production timeline of just 12 to 18 months. With an estimated capital expenditure of around $20 million to bring the mine online, this new financing provides more than enough capital to achieve that goal. Once operational, the company aims to supply up to 8% of the United States' total domestic tungsten demand, making a significant dent in the nation's foreign dependency.

Several key advantages underpin this aggressive timeline. The mine is situated on private, patented land and is located well above the water table. This favorable setting is expected to streamline the permitting process, allowing the company to avoid the lengthy and costly Environmental Impact Statements often required for new projects on federal land. Instead, the primary regulatory hurdles will involve state-level reclamation bonds and standard operating permits.

The Financial Power Play

The structure of the C$35 million financing underscores the market's conviction. A “bought deal” signifies that the underwriter, Stifel Canada, has purchased the entire offering, assuming the risk and guaranteeing the full proceeds for American Tungsten. The rapid upsize from C$20 million on the same day further illustrates that institutional demand far outstripped the initial supply of securities.

This financing is the culmination of a series of increasingly successful capital raises over the past year. The company previously closed an oversubscribed C$7 million placement in July 2025 and raised nearly C$18 million in another upsized offering in October 2025. This latest, much larger deal marks a significant inflection point, transitioning the company from a promising explorer to a well-funded developer on a clear path to production.

The inclusion of warrants provides further potential upside, both for investors and the company. If the share price performs as hoped, the exercise of these warrants could inject millions more into the company's treasury in the coming years, providing non-dilutive funding for future expansion or operational needs.

Charting the Path to Production

With capital secured, American Tungsten's focus now shifts to execution. The immediate use of proceeds will involve an expanded underground drilling program to validate and extend the known mineralization of the mine's historic vein systems. The company has already reported promising tungsten-silver assay results from initial drilling in February 2026.

These results will feed into a new NI 43-101 compliant technical report, which will form the basis for a modern resource estimate and a detailed mine plan. The funds will also cover restoring access to the property, rehabilitating existing underground infrastructure, and completing the final engineering studies required to commence production.

By successfully raising this capital, American Tungsten has not only secured its own future but has also taken a tangible step toward bolstering North American critical mineral security. As global supply chains remain fragile and geopolitical tensions rise, the revival of the IMA Mine represents a small but crucial piece of a much larger strategic puzzle, transforming a dormant piece of American industrial history into a vital asset for the future.