Western Star Files Application With U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium as Tungsten Prices Rip and the West Scrambles for Non-China Supply

Issued on behalf of Western Star Resources Inc.

A submission into a U.S. DoW critical minerals solicitation, an inbound IR engagement targeting the European market, and a flow-through financing arrive in the middle of a tungsten supercycle — and 8 months before the U.S. defense procurement ban on Chinese tungsten takes effect.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada News Group News Commentary — The tungsten market has stopped trading like a niche industrial input. Rotterdam ammonium paratungstate (APT) — the benchmark intermediate — is changing hands near US$3,185 per metric tonne unit, up roughly 350% year-to-date and approximately 900% over the trailing 12 months. China still controls roughly 80% of global mine supply and dominates downstream APT, powder, and carbide processing, with Beijing limiting tungsten exports to just 15 approved firms through 2027. The U.S. has had no commercial tungsten mine production since 2015. And on January 1, 2027 — eight months from now — a federal procurement rule will bar Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and North Korean tungsten from key U.S. defense applications.

Against that setup, Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) announced it has submitted an application in response to a solicitation from the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC), a body managed by Advanced Technology International on behalf of the U.S. Department of War (DoW). The DIBC issued its critical minerals request for project proposal (RPP) in February 2026, with the DoW prioritizing supply chain alternatives for defense-critical minerals used in aircraft, missiles, semiconductors, and other defense technologies. Western Star’s submission focuses on tungsten (WO3).

Blake Morgan, the CEO and President of Western Star, stated, “Western Star Resources is pleased to support DIBC initiatives focusing on strategic critical minerals. Our team will be traveling to Washington in May for meetings to discuss our past-producing tungsten asset. We believe this asset offers significant upside and look forward to demonstrating its potential as we approach our maiden drill program in 2026. Additionally, we will provide further updates shortly regarding the recently announced Rowland exploration program.”

The Company’s flagship is the past-producing Rowland tungsten property in Jarbidge, Nevada — a U.S. asset with documented historical production that fits the geographic profile the DoW is now actively underwriting. Western Star also holds nine non-surveyed contiguous mineral claims totaling 4,740 hectares in the Revelstoke mining division of British Columbia, located approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Revelstoke and 10 kilometres north of the former community of Camborne.

Alongside the DIBC submission, Western Star announced it has entered into a 12-month investor relations and marketing services agreement with Plutus Invest & Consulting GmbH of Bremen, Germany, dated April 28, 2026 and commencing May 1, 2026. Plutus’s mandate covers consultation on advertorial marketing and public relations strategies and the design and implementation of an advertisement-based investor awareness campaign focused on the European investment market — covering financial-news portals, investor newsletters, social-media platforms, paid digital advertising networks, and sponsored articles and video interviews. The Company has agreed to pay Plutus a fee of €200,000 payable on commencement of services, with the term ending April 30, 2027. The engagement is subject to certain conditions including submission of all required forms to the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Western Star also announced a non-brokered private placement of 833,333 flow-through common shares at a price of $0.60 per FT Share for gross proceeds of $500,000. The gross proceeds will be used to incur eligible “Canadian exploration expenses” (CEE) that are “flow-through mining expenditures” related to the Company’s Western Star Project, with proceeds also expected to qualify for the critical mineral tax credit (CMETC). All FT Shares will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws. Completion of the Offering remains subject to approval by the CSE.

The combination — a DIBC submission, an EU-focused investor awareness campaign, and a CMETC-eligible exploration financing — sets up a busier news cycle heading into the maiden drill program at Rowland. Investors should note that Western Star is at an early stage; the Company has not yet established a current NI 43-101 mineral resource at Rowland, and historical production from the property does not constitute a current mineral resource estimate.

CONTINUED… Read the full article and stay updated on Western Star’s developments here

In other news circulating across the tungsten and critical minerals supply-chain reshoring trade:

Almonty Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ALM) (TSX: AII) (ASX: AII) (Frankfurt: ALI1) announced on March 16, 2026 the completion of Phase 1 commissioning at its flagship Sangdong Tungsten Mine in Gangwon Province, South Korea — marking the return to production after more than 30 years.

Phase 1 is now commissioned and producing, with the processing plant designed to handle approximately 640,000 tonnes of ore annually for roughly 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate per year. A Phase 2 expansion expected online in 2027 is designed to roughly double output. At full capacity, Sangdong is positioned to supply approximately 40% of global tungsten demand outside China. Almonty is also targeting production readiness at its Gentung Browns Lake Project in Beaverhead County, Montana by the second half of 2026 — what would be the first U.S. tungsten mine in roughly a decade.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) is the only fully integrated rare earth producer in North America, operating the Mountain Pass mine and processing facility in California and a magnetics facility in Fort Worth, Texas. In Q4 2025, the company achieved a record 718 metric tons of NdPr oxide production — a 74% year-over-year increase.

In July 2025, MP entered into a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, including a US$400 million preferred stock investment, a US$150 million direct loan, a 10-year ~US$110/kg NdPr price floor, and magnet output commitments tied to the planned 10X facility. A 10X magnetics facility in Northlake, Texas is backed by a $200 million incentive package and is expected to break ground this year.

USA Rare Earth, Inc. (NASDAQ: USAR) is advancing what it describes as a fully vertically integrated “mine-to-magnet” strategy on U.S. soil, anchored by the Round Top Mountain project in Sierra Blanca, Texas — the richest known U.S. deposit of heavy rare earths, gallium, and beryllium — and a 310,000 sq. ft. magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

In early 2026, the company secured a transformative US$1.6 billion funding package from the U.S. government, which included a direct equity stake. The Stillwater plant is expected to reach commercial production in the first half of 2026, producing high-performance sintered NdFeB magnets used in F-35 fighter jets, electric vehicle motors, and missile guidance systems.

Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) operates the White Mesa Mill in Utah — the only fully licensed and operating conventional uranium processing facility in the United States, which has been repurposed to also produce advanced rare earth element products including separated NdPr oxide.

The company produced on-spec dysprosium oxide at pilot scale in July 2025, with terbium oxide and samarium oxide production at pilot scale planned through Q1 2026. Energy Fuels has also assembled heavy mineral sand assets in Madagascar (Toliara) and Brazil (Bahia), creating vertical integration from mine to separation, and reported its high-purity Dy oxide has passed all standards of a major South Korean automotive manufacturer for downstream rare earth permanent magnet production.

The pattern across these names is consistent. Western governments are deploying capital — equity stakes, price floors, EXIM commitments, and procurement deadlines — to anchor non-China supply across rare earths, tungsten, antimony, titanium, and the rest of the critical minerals stack. The market, in turn, is repricing the operators that can deliver actual ounces or tonnes inside the West before the procurement bans bite. With a DIBC submission filed, an EU investor campaign launching, and a maiden drill program at a past-producing U.S. tungsten asset on the schedule, Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) is positioned to keep building news flow into the back half of 2026.

CONTINUED… For more information about Western Star Resources Inc., visit their website here

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