Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (LON:GWMO), a strategic minerals exploration and development company, has updated investors on its upcoming exploration plans at the Defender-Pine Crow Tungsten Project in Mineral County, Nevada USA. This follows the receipt of highly encouraging assay results at Defender announced in January 2026.
Highlights
· Accelerating exploration activity with the objective of defining a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) in Q4 2026.
· Assessing a 3 km long mineralised trend between Defender and the Company’s existing MRE at M2, as shown in Figure 1 below, through detailed mapping and geophysical surveys commencing in March.
· Commencing groundwork in April to prepare drill pads, ahead of the planned start of drilling in June.
· Anticipating additional assay results from new channel cuts in Q2.
Great Western Mining Chairman Brian Hall commented: “Defender is shaping up to have the potential to become a tungsten discovery of considerable scale and significance. Its geological setting, noting its proximity to Guardian Metals’ Pilot Mountain Project approximately 30 miles away, reinforces our confidence that we are operating within a highly prospective polymetallic district.
“We have designed the upcoming exploration programme to accelerate progress toward a maiden MRE, which we see as a key catalyst in unlocking value at Defender and across our broader portfolio. Importantly, Defender appears to represent the far eastern extension of a mineralised trend that includes our M2 resource, located more than 3 km to the southwest, highlighting the potential continuity and district-scale opportunity.
“This is clearly an underexplored area with substantial upside and we are eager to commence systematic work to define the full scale of the mineralised system.”
DETAILS
Background
The Defender and Pine Crow tungsten skarns are located approximately 3 km northeast of and on trend with the Company’s M2 skarn copper resource. Historic production of tungsten from these skarns dates back to a short spell of extraction towards the end of the Second World War.
Following earlier positive field mapping and grab sampling, in December 2025 the Company undertook a machine-cut channel sampling programme at Defender. Two channels returned significant tungsten mineralisation, including 6 m at 0.17% WO₃, including 1 m at 0.43% WO₃, and 16 m at 0.30% WO₃, including 2 m at 0.66% WO₃ (see RNS dated 29 January 2026). Importantly, elements that could represent potential processing penalties were recorded at very low concentrations, and silver mineralisation was also intersected within Channel B.
2026 Exploration Programme
Following a successful fundraise completed in January 2026, the Company is fully funded to execute an expanded exploration programme at Defender during 2026. Accordingly, the Company has designed a programme to accelerate progress towards defining a maiden MRE, targeted for Q4 2026, and to test the scale, continuity and geometry of the mineralised system at Defender, including its potential relationship to the broader mineralised trend extending towards M2, located more than 3 km to the southwest.
Detailed geological mapping and geophysical surveys will commence in March 2026 to assess the mineralised trend between Defender and the Company’s existing MRE at M2, as shown in Figure 1. This work is intended to refine the geological model and support drill targeting initially at the eastern end of the trend. Groundworks are scheduled to begin in April to prepare the drill pads, ahead of the commencement of drilling. Bids from drilling contractors are currently being sought for the programme, with the objective of starting drilling in June 2026. In parallel, additional assay results from newly completed channel cuts are expected in Q2 2026 and will be incorporated into the exploration model.
Figure 1: Mineralised trend between Defender and M2 MRE, together with results from the December 2025 machine-cut channel sampling programme (inset).
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| Figure 2: Nevada state map showing Mineral Countyand regional geology | Figure 3: Mineral County, Nevada |
Corporate Presentation & Live Investor Call
The Company is pleased to announce that an updated corporate presentation has been published on its website: www.greatwesternmining.com.
