America Found A Rare Metal It Desperately Needs. Red Tape Could Keep It In The Ground For Ages

August 13, 2026 5:00 PM ET After pulling the plug on tungsten mining for over a decade, a massive discovery in Nevada could put America back in the game.Developer 3 Proton Lithium (3PL) estimates its Railroad Valley Minerals project holds 1.78 million metric tons of tungsten, potentially the largest known deposit of the metal in the country, and more than five times the size of the next-largest U.S. resource, according to MINING.com. The rare metal is extraordinarily dense and heat-resistant, making it essential for armor-piercing munitions, cutting tools, semiconductors and aerospace and defense hardware.But getting it out of the ground is another story, as a patchwork of federal land rules, a notoriously slow approval process and one very specific obstacle at NASA stand between the find