Defense

Modern defense hardware is built around a short list of physical constants, and tungsten owns two of them. At 19.3 g/cm³ it is almost as dense as gold and roughly two and a half times denser than steel, which lets a projectile carry maximum mass in minimum volume. At 3,422 °C it has the highest melting point of any metal, so it keeps its shape and strength under the heat and friction of impact. No other material combines that density, hardness and temperature resistance at a cost that armies can afford, and depleted uranium, the only serious alternative for penetrators, carries political and environmental constraints that most Western militaries are moving away from. Tungsten is not one option among several for defense procurement. For a range of critical munitions and components, it is the only option.

Where tungsten is used

Kinetic-energy penetrators and APFSDS rounds

Armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding-sabot rounds fired from tank guns rely on long, slender rods of tungsten heavy alloy. Density is what drives penetration depth: a denser rod concentrates more kinetic energy on a smaller area of armour. Tungsten heavy alloys, typically 90 to 97 percent tungsten with nickel, iron or cobalt binders, give the toughness needed to survive launch without shattering. Smaller-calibre armour-piercing rounds use tungsten carbide cores for the same reason.

Armour and protection

Tungsten carbide plates and inserts appear in vehicle armour packages and in some personal protection systems where weight per unit of stopping power matters. Its hardness blunts and fragments incoming projectiles before they reach the structure behind.

Counterweights and ballast

Missiles, guided bombs, helicopter rotors and fighter control surfaces all need balance mass in confined spaces. Tungsten heavy alloy delivers that mass in roughly half the volume of lead and without lead's toxicity, which is why it has become the default for aerospace and missile counterweights, gyroscope rotors and vibration dampers.

Shaped-charge liners and fragmentation

Tungsten powders and alloys are used in shaped-charge liners, explosively formed penetrators and pre-formed fragments where mass and ductility determine lethality against hardened targets.

Naval and ordnance components

Gun barrel liners, breech components, naval gun ammunition and radiation shielding in nuclear-powered vessels all draw on tungsten's heat tolerance and density. Tungsten carbide also appears in the tooling that manufactures every one of these components.

For the munitions that decide armoured engagements, there is no drop-in substitute for tungsten. That is why its supply chain has become a national security question rather than a commercial one.

Why supply is the problem

China produces roughly four-fifths of the world's mined tungsten and an even larger share of intermediate products such as ammonium paratungstate and tungsten carbide powder. In February 2025, Beijing introduced export controls on a range of tungsten products, adding tungsten to a list of critical materials already subject to licensing. Prices for tungsten concentrate and APT rose sharply through 2025 as Western buyers competed for non-Chinese material.

The United States has had no domestic primary tungsten mine production for several years and depends on imports and recycling for essentially all of its consumption. Tungsten sits on the U.S. Government's critical minerals list, and the Department of Defense has moved to restrict Chinese-origin tungsten in procurement. The FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits the purchase of tungsten and tungsten heavy alloy mined or processed in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran, with the restriction taking effect in 2027. The Defense Logistics Agency has also resumed building strategic stockpiles of tungsten products.

The result is a structural gap. Western defense demand for tungsten is growing as munitions production expands, while the permitted sources of supply are shrinking by regulation at the same time. New non-Chinese mine supply takes years to permit, develop and finance, so the projects that will matter for the 2027 cut-off and beyond are the ones being advanced today.

What it means for Gordon

Gordon Mining Group's Tungsten Tail Project sits in Sierra County, New Mexico, on U.S. federal land. It is a past-producing scheelite property with historic shipments recorded in 1942 and 1955, during two earlier periods when the United States urgently needed domestic tungsten for war production. Reported historical grades were in the range of 3 to 4 percent WO3, and more than 300 metres of underground workings were developed on the property. Despite that production history, there is no record of the property ever having been drilled.

Gordon's plan is to be the first company to drill Tungsten Tail, using the historic workings and surface mapping to target the mineralised structures that earlier operators mined by hand. A domestic tungsten source on U.S. federal land aligns directly with the procurement restrictions and stockpiling priorities described above, and the project's history of production gives Gordon a documented starting point that most early-stage tungsten explorers do not have.

Historical information presented here has not been verified by a Qualified Person and is not a current mineral resource. Gordon intends to establish the modern geological context of the property through systematic exploration before any resource work is undertaken.

Key takeaways

• Tungsten's density and melting point make it irreplaceable in penetrators, armour, counterweights and ordnance.
• China supplies roughly four-fifths of the world's tungsten and imposed export controls in February 2025.
• The United States has no primary tungsten mine production and will bar Chinese-origin tungsten from defense procurement from 2027.
• Tungsten Tail is a past-producing scheelite property on U.S. federal land with reported historical grades of 3 to 4 percent WO3 and no recorded drilling.
• Gordon intends to be the first company to drill it; historical data is unverified by a Qualified Person and is not a current mineral resource.