AW1 engages Washington DC advisors to chase US government funding
Our US critical minerals Investment American West Metals (ASX: AW1 | OTCQB: AWMLF) just engaged US based advisory firm GreenMet to accelerate engagement with the US government.
GreenMet is the company founded and led by Drew Horn, who worked in the Defence and Energy departments during Donald Trump’s first term and, after the 2020 election.
Horn was also former senior US critical minerals and energy security official with time spent in the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Energy and the Department of War.
According to the following Bloomberg article from August last year Horn’s GreenMet is a “company that arranges deals between the US government and the private sector around critical minerals”.
Read that full article here: Greenland’s Rare-Earth Dreams Are Luring Trump Allies.
GreenMet's mandate for AW1 will be to pursue government funding, strategic partnerships and potential offtake arrangements for AW1’s indium project in Utah.
AW1’s project is the largest indium deposit in the US (and one of the biggest in the world).
Indium is a critical mineral in AI chips, night vision, missile guidance and F-35 fighter jets - yet the US is 100% reliant on imports, and China placed indium under export restrictions in 2025.
The US is 100% import reliant on, with China controlling ~70% of global supply and AW1 has the largest resource in the US.
China produces 70% of the world's indium, 98% of the world's gallium, and 60% of the world's germanium and AW1 has shown gallium and germanium so we wait for the assays:
Part of our AW1 Big Bet has always been that the company is able to attract capital from the US government, a strategic partner or the capital markets to progress its indium project.
We already know AW1 has had "unsolicited approaches" from the Department of War, Department of Energy and local government - and met senior US government officials at the White House Complex earlier this year.
AW1’s MD is on the record saying “We have been approached by the Department of War, Department of Energy and local government to move this forward” (listen to the soundbite here)
So hiring GreenMet is about converting that type of engagement into something concrete (although of course, there is no guarantee any funding deal eventuates).
Given AW1 has the largest indium resource in America, we feel that it is in a strong position to be able to get a slice of some of the funding being thrown at critical minerals projects.
What is AW1 up to on its project right now?
AW1 has a resampling program underway for gallium and germanium.
Only ~35% of the project has been assayed for indium across historic drilling AND the project’s never been assayed for any other critical metals like gallium or germanium.
Drilling is also continuing 24/7 with the eighth hole of the program already underway.
AW1 expects to have assay results back inside the next 4-6 weeks:
(source)
What’s next for AW1?
US indium project (West Desert, Utah)
Here we want to see AW1 run its upsized drill program, grow its resource and hopefully define a gallium & germanium resource to go with it.
Here are the milestones we are tracking:
- ✅Drilling commenced
- ✅First hole hit 108.4m at 25.2g/t indium (plus gold, silver & zinc) 430m east of resource, along the 4km magnetic anomaly
- 🔄 Historical core resampling for gallium & germanium.
- 🔄 Assays from drilling
- 🔲 Resampling assay results
Strategic / Government Engagement
- 🔄 Defence Production Act Title III funding
- ✅ TODAY: AW1 hired Washington based advisors to lead US government engagement.
- 🔲 Formal US government funding deal / offtake / stockpile inclusion
- 🔲 Potential US listing
Canadian copper project
AW1 also has an advanced stage copper project - check out our deep dive into the asset here.
The next major catalyst for this project will be the PFS that is currently underway - here are the two milestones we are tracking for that project next:
- 🔄 Pre-Feasibility Study
- 🔲 Environmental studies and permitting milestones
