Great Western completes initial exploration on Defender-Pine Crow corridor

(Sharecast News) - Great Western Mining said on Monday that it had completed initial exploration work across the three-kilometre corridor between its Defender-Pine Crow tungsten project and existing M2 copper resource in Mineral County, Nevada, ahead of a planned drilling campaign in July. The AIM-traded company said the programmes were designed to support drilling and assess the broader extent of tungsten mineralisation within the Black Mountain claim area.

A gravity geophysical survey, carried out by Zonge International, had been completed over an area of about three kilometres by 500 metres.

Great Western said the results would be integrated with recent geological mapping and grab sampling to improve its understanding of the skarn and tungsten mineralisation between Defender and M2.

The company said geological mapping of skarn occurrences had also been completed, with new grab samples submitted for assay after identifying additional prospective zones and structural controls.

Proposed drill pad locations and access roads between the historic Dough God Mine, about 500 metres southwest of Defender, and the Defender Mine had been selected and submitted to the Bureau of Land Management for permitting approval.

Four new machine-cut trenches had also been completed, with three between the Defender and Pine Crow mines and one at the Widowmaker Mine, about two kilometres west of Defender along strike and midway between Pine Crow and the M2 copper resource.

Samples from all trenches had been submitted for assay.

Great Western said the 2026 programme was fully funded and intended to deliver an initial maiden resource estimate for Defender-Pine Crow by the end of the fourth quarter.

The company had also sent a 750 kilogram representative metallurgical bulk sample to Eriez in Pennsylvania for flotation test work to support future development studies.

"The completion of these programmes marks another important step in accelerating the Defender-Pine Crow tungsten project towards drilling and resource definition," said chief executive officer Ed Loye.

"In particular, the scale of the geophysical and geological work completed across the broader mineralised corridor is helping us better understand the continuity and district-scale potential of the tungsten system."

Loye said the trenching at Widowmaker was "especially encouraging" as it extended exploration activity further west along strike towards M2, supporting the company's view that the area formed part of a larger mineralised trend.

"With drilling scheduled to commence in July, we now look forward to the next phase of work and to receiving the assay and metallurgical results in due course," he added.

At 1347 BST, shares in Great Western Mining Corporation were down 6.52% at 4.3p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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