Western Star Resources Inc. has begun the first phase of its 2026 field exploration program at the Rowland Tungsten Property in Elko County, Nevada. The campaign opens with drone geophysics, systematic prospecting, and a property-wide soil geochemistry effort designed to identify drill-ready targets during the current field season. The company announced on May 21, 2026 that its technical team had mobilized to the site to launch what it describes as the first modern exploration program ever conducted on the past-producing tungsten system.
The Rowland property sits inside a tightening Western tungsten supply environment. APT Rotterdam tungsten prices traded at around US$3,185 per metric tonne unit in early May 2026, reflecting roughly a 900 percent climb over twelve months. That move has been driven by Chinese export licensing controls and an approaching DFARS 252.225-7052 procurement cliff scheduled for January 1, 2027, which would block Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and North Korean tungsten products from the United States defense supply chain. Western Star is positioning the Nevada asset as a domestic supply candidate inside that policy window.
Drone Geophysics Powers the Rowland Field Program
The initial program combines a high-resolution drone magnetic survey with systematic prospecting and sampling of historical waste dumps and workings. Western Star also plans a property-wide soil geochemistry campaign aimed at refining its understanding of the tungsten-bearing skarn horizons that run across the property. The approach mirrors the way many mining companies are now layering aerial geophysics over historical workings to find structure that ground crews alone cannot map. Together, the drone geophysics and ground sampling are intended to feed an integrated dataset that can guide target selection later in the year.
Blake Morgan, CEO and President of Western Star, framed the work as the first modern exploration program ever conducted on the past-producing Rowland tungsten system. The property carries documented historical activity but has never been evaluated using contemporary drone geophysics or systematic property-wide geochemistry. Mineralization at Rowland sits within skarn zones reaching up to 100 feet wide, developed along intrusive contacts between a Cretaceous-aged quartz monzonite stock and host limestones, shales, and quartzites. Scheelite serves as the primary tungsten mineral. Geophysical results are expected within weeks, while soil samples have already been submitted for certified laboratory analysis.
Historical Production at the Past-Producing Rowland Site
The historical record at Rowland gives the modern program a baseline to build from. According to past records that the company has not yet independently verified, 4.5 tons grading 3.38 percent WO3 were shipped from the site in 1943, while approximately 1,000 tons grading between 0.5 and 1.0 percent WO3 were produced between 1954 and 1956. Those figures define the documented past-producing footprint that Western Star plans to convert into structurally controlled, geochemically validated drill targets through the current campaign. Rowland sits within an established Nevada mining jurisdiction, and field crews are evaluating workings that earlier operators left behind.
The technical team plans to merge drone geophysical interpretations, soil geochemistry readings, and historical production data into a unified set of priority drill targets. Drill permitting is progressing in parallel with fieldwork, a sequencing the company hopes will compress the timeline once anomalies are ranked. Coverage of the project and the wider Western tungsten capital cycle is being tracked through the USA News Group Western Star landing page, which has continued to follow the project since acquisition. Jasper Mowatt, MAusIMM, reviewed the scientific and technical information as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.
Policy and Drone Geophysics Tailwinds Behind the Project
The macro backdrop around Rowland has shifted in ways that favor non-China tungsten projects. The looming January 1, 2027 DFARS 252.225-7052 procurement cliff is codified under 10 U.S.C. §4872, NDAA Section 844 from fiscal year 2021, and Section 854 from fiscal year 2024. Those provisions extend prohibitions across the full defense supply chain, covering mining through finished tungsten metal powders, tungsten heavy alloys, samarium-cobalt magnets, NdFeB magnets, and tantalum metals and alloys.
On the Canadian side, the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit framework was expanded under Budget 2025 on November 4, 2025, and enacted through Bill C-15, which received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026. The expansion added tungsten to the eligible critical minerals list, providing a 30 percent non-refundable credit on top of the 100 percent Canadian Exploration Expense deduction for flow-through share agreements through March 31, 2027. Western Star also recently engaged Bremen-based Plutus Invest and Consulting GmbH under a €200,000 mandate fee running through April 30, 2027, aimed at building European market awareness while the maiden drill program at the Nevada property produces its first modern technical results.
