Taylor Sulik - Mithril Mining

Taylor Sulik started Mithril Mining without a mining background, without a geology background, and without a project. What he did have was a US Coast Guard intelligence career and a fairly methodical way of working through a problem.

In late 2023 he took the USGS critical minerals list and built a scoring framework around it. Had America produced this before? Was there defence demand and commercial demand? Were there unclaimed deposits? What land status were they on? Tungsten came out on top, so he worked down a list of the largest US tungsten deposits until he reached one nobody had claimed. That was Calvert, in Montana, the highest grade historical tungsten resource in the country.

It produced between 1956 and 1962 and stopped when the US government stopped buying. It was drilled again in 1966 and 1971, then largely lost to history. US Tungsten Corp held it from 2012 and planned to drill, but never did. At one point the claims ended up being offered on eBay.

In this episode Taylor walks through the historic resource, 128,000 tons at 1.1% beneath the open pit with a potential 218,000 tons deeper at the same grade, plus around 20,000 tons at 0.8% near surface to the northwest. He explains the unprocessed surface material at roughly 0.2% that could fund exploration without heavy dilution, the unfunded partnership with Utah State University, the processing facility at Phillipsburg and the letter of intent with Tungsten Parts Wyoming that closes the chain from mine to offtake.

There's also the pressure sitting behind all of it. Tungsten has moved from about $330/MTU to about $3,200/MTU since he started, China still accounts for 83% of global production, and the TFARS deadline of 21 January 2027 is doing a lot of quiet work in the background.

He quit his full time job in May 2026. He has turned down seven and eight figure offers for the property. The aim is the first US tungsten concentrate since 2015, then dewatering the pit, then eventually handing the site back as somewhere people can use.

More on the company at mithrilmining.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Coast Guard to mining pipeline hasn't been truly explored by as many other folks out there as myself. But really thinking through the process, I started this company as a prospect generator company. So I think that was really where that intelligence aspect helped, taking the time to do the research, understanding what critical minerals we had here in the US, and sort of going through a list of criteria when I would pick out projects. And this all started back in probably late 2023, early 2024. So my first project was actually a uranium project out in Utah. And that I got in when uranium was up, you know, a hundred bucks a pound. And everyone was in, you know, talking about uranium at that point. So being a guy with no mining background in the space, I sort of had to take a different look at what was out there. Um and that's what I did. So I went to the USGS critical mineral list and essentially just, you know, went down all the minerals, created a spreadsheet, and sort of made a criteria list of all the minerals on there. Um, one being have we produced this mineral in the United States before? Have we produced significant quantities of it? Is there both a defense but also commercial industry aspect to this mineral? Because uh, you know, some minerals are only important for the defense. And when I was thinking about building a business, you don't want to just have to rely on the US government or other governments as your primary customer. You want to have that duality to operate in the space. Um are there unclaimed deposits? You know, that's one of the most important aspects, is you know, if there are unclaimed deposits in the tungsten space. And then um, what type of land status are they? Is it you know private lands, Bureau of Land Management Land, and U.S. Forest Service land? Because that obviously changes the calculus and the permitting process here in the US. Um, so that's what I did. I started with the um tungsten hit as one of the top minerals of across all that criteria back then, and I uh sort of just Googled the the largest tungsten deposits in the US, went down from top to bottom, and the Calvert was the the highest tungsten deposit on there that wasn't claimed at that point, so we got it claimed.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Great. As you said, you were quite early, 2023. How has the market and the general atmosphere in the industry changed in those three years?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yeah, so when I when I first got interested in tungsten, it was about 330 in MTU, and obviously did it today. It's you know almost 3200. Um, I would say a lot more people are engaging with me now, now that tungsten is uh this high of a price. Um, you know, back at that 330 price time frame, it was um, you know, having conversations with folks that was kind of close to the break-even point for a lot of operations, so there wasn't too much interest in it in that at that time. But I think as we saw the price rise, there's more attention in the space. Um, obviously, I've had a lot of more folks in my email trying to buy this property from me uh as the price continued to go up. Um, but beyond that, I think the off-take partners understanding the the pricing dynamics uh are engaging more, wanting to get more involved, you know, further up the supply chain to lock up these uh their their off takes for the for the foreseeable future.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yes. How has mithril mining's uh mission changed? Because when you started, it was probably a very lonely experience. Like you said, you're getting emails and opportunities all the time now. Has it changed? Or or is it sort of you're very much just determined going to proceed the way you are?

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Yeah, so like I like I said, you know, I was a prospect generator company. I had sold a couple of you know, tungsten and antimony projects um to various um companies here in the US. Um, but a lot of the groups I was dealing with were foreign-based, you know, UK companies, Canadian companies, Australian companies. And, you know, as an American, you know, as a veteran and being in the military, I thought, you know, there should there should be an American company here in the tungsten space to be a part of that. Um obviously we need all of these companies working together because not just one of us is going to solve this problem alone with the way the demand for tungsten is shaping up. But I think there's a unique opportunity for an American company in the space, especially with how the US administration is talking about, you know, America first and um, you know, reshoring of all this to the US. So yeah, it was a prospect generated company. Now we're working on exploration. Uh, I quit my full-time job in May of this year to take this on. So the mission has not changed. Um, I want to take this all the way through to um, you know, get some tungsten produced and say that we are the first company to to make a tungsten concentrate in the US again since uh 2015. And um, so I burned the boats essentially in May of this year. There's no going back now.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

That's great. So looking forward, how do you see mithril mining proceeding? Do you see a listing? What do you think is going to come?

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yeah, so we got that question quite a bit. Um we have talked about that. I think we want to um get through a first-level exploration before we you know continue those conversations. I think there's enough um data that we've collected that we can also add value, intrinsic value to the company by doing this drilling. Um, we do have various other projects too, um, you know, some floor spar projects, uh a rare earth project, um, that uranium project as well. Um, so we may look into uh spinning off the tungsten asset only into a new business and then listing it through that way. Um but I think as we get further along past this first drill plan that we're in uh the planning stages for, we're gonna need larger capital, and the markets are that place uh where that capital comes in.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

That's great. Talking about uh Calvert tungsten, it's described as one of the highest grade historical tungsten resources in the US. Why has it been missed? Why do you think companies have overlooked it generally?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah, that's a great question. So um the the mine produced from 1956 to about 1962, um, and then it stopped producing when the government um stopped purchasing tungsten at that timeframe. Uh it was developed, you know, again, it was drilled in 1966, 1971. I think it was kind of lost to history until about 2012 at that point. Haven't found any records of anyone doing anything with it. Um, there was a company, a listed company, U.S. Tungsten Corp., who had that project from about 2012 to 2015, 2016 timeframe. Um, and they uh they drilled, they were, they planned to drill it, but they didn't end up going through on the drilling. Um, and then there was actually a claim staker who staked the property and then was trying to sell it on eBay. Uh and then he lost the claims too. So there has been interest in it, but I think tungsten has sort of just been in that, you know, over long periods of time, that price didn't really get people interested in. Um it's also on U.S. Forest Service lands, so that was part of the thinking criteria. Um, you know, the the more stricter permitting, um, you know, more dealing with the government and making sure you're environmentally conscious about what you're doing up there. Um, but I would probably say the the price uh of tungsten and sort of the um the location too. Um I think Montana has becoming more interested in the uh critical mineral space, but I think you know the primary focus has been in Nevada, Utah, Idaho over you know, the previous years. And I think now Montana, we're getting a lot more interest. I mean, Almonte is now in Montana focusing on tungsten. Um there's also Iris Metals, which is an ASX listed company in Montana focused on tungsten. Um, so I think it was just, you know, I got in at the right time, and thankfully Calvert came up on that list of uh tungsten deposits.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, that's great. And obviously, as you explore and move forward, you're going, you've announced a number of uh collaborations, but one of particular interest is the Utah State University. What are you hoping to learn or de-risk through that partnership?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah, so the the Utah State has been great. They've been great partners in what we're doing up there. Um, one of the big benefits of that is it was an unfunded agreement. So essentially, you know, we don't have to pay anything for them to go up there. This is more about the students getting real-world mining project experiences instead of just being, you know, in a classroom or reading a book. Um, I've funded this business all by myself up to this point. So obviously, that's a big pro is having them help us up there in doing that. Um, so their first initial work, and we should be getting the data back soon, is they took a look at all the surface material up there. Um, so we did a LIDAR flight in conjunction with that. So this is that near-term potential revenue. You don't have to mine it out of the ground. It's just sitting up there. It was a lower grade, about 0.2% tungsten that just never got processed up there. So we're working to find the economics of how much of that material, what material pockets can we get process and concentrate to bring in that revenue to fund further exploration. So we don't have to keep you know diluting as we go forward and raise additional sums of money. And then beyond that, they also are coming back. Actually, next week in Montana, we'll be back up there with them. Um, there's some other interesting uh aspects of the property. There is a um a spot right now. So the the mine is an open pit, but it's flooded, you know, has water in it right now. But there is a uh about a five-acre parcel just to the northwest where there was historical drilling that's put out a small resource, about 20,000 tons at 0.8% tungsten. So we're going to be working with them to sort of try to figure out what a plan would be to focus on that area next. You know, we want to do some drilling up there to prove out this small resource, get that rolling, and then work in conjunction on the longer-term plans of dewatering that pit, opening that pit wider, drilling out that larger resource and continuing the operation.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Great. So when it so you have that when it comes to exploration, um, you've also signed a letter of intent with Tungsten Parts Wyoming. How does that affect sort of a downstream relationship? And how does it put your mind? Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Yeah, no, thanks. Um, I mean, just having Tungsten Parts as a supporter has been a great validation for the business that we're building at this point. I think any company that can sort of solve the supply chain um is thinking about it in the right way. Um, so we have the mine, you know, we have the um processing facility up in Phillipsburg, Montana, who's working on some material for us. And then we also have Tungsten Parts, Wyoming. So we essentially have all the pieces to the puzzle solved here from you know mine to concentrate to offtake. So for the you know, the the investment case, we have the the it lined up. And then them working with us, you know, they came out to our site we um in uh let's see, a few weeks ago. Um they were up at the Montana Mining Association getting more involved. So they've been great partners, and just having them in our corner through this process has been a great experience um and has helped you know give support and again validity to what we're working on and to have their support has been great.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah, that's great. And obviously, this is a legacy tungsten mine, like you said, quite small, but it is it's there. What does responsible stewardship look like when it comes to the environment, social, permitting, and then geopolitically?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yeah. So the we've done a lot of uh stakeholder engagement in Montana. So we have um, you know, we've done a community meeting with the local community in Wise River. We've also presented the Big Hole Watershed Committee. Um, we're members of the Montana Mining Association. You have to do a presentation and get formally included into the Montana Mining Association. You can't just join the board of directors, ask to admit you in. And they're one of their top um, you know, criteria to join is environmental stewardship, just due to the nature of uh mining in Montana, especially with the Berkeley Pitt Butte. So, and I think that sort of goes back to my Coast Guard experience. You know, right now I'm still a reservist in the Coast Guard. You know, my my primary role is prevention. So we go out there and try to prevent bad things from happening to the environment, whether it's oil shill, uh oil spills, um, you know, vessels wrecking and stuff like that. So I think that's sort of ingrained in my nature. And, you know, uh here in the US, we can do things more technologically efficient, we can do things safer and more environmentally friendly. Um, you know, before I got into tungsten, I've never been out to Montana. Um, I've primarily been on the East Coast here. And I will tell you, just being out in Montana, just the scenery, it's it's something to be experienced in Montana. Um and I think that's an important part to Montana and sort of their ethos as a state. So I think there is a way to both, you know, bring revenue, bring jobs for this tungsten project, um, but also sort of keep the um the environmental aspect to it. And this is an open pit too. You know, it's a it's a large open pit. So I think they're you know, part of our conversation is hey, we want to clean this area up. We want to finish the job that was never completed, and then we want to turn this back into uh you know a recreational area for folks out there to to enjoy in the future and not just have an open hole sitting in the ground up there.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yeah, that is that's great, and it's really important to consider as well. If everything goes to plan, I know nothing goes completely perfectly, but if everything goes to plan, what does success look like at Calvert in the next five to 10 years?

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, so I would say success in the next five to ten years is that we are producing tungsten and a concentrate within the next five to ten years. So over the last six months or so, I've been collecting a lot of historical data from the previous operators, and we're working through our exploration plan. Um, so based on the historic resource, there's 128,000 tons of tungsten material sitting underneath the open pit at 1.1%. There's also a potential for another 218,000 tons deeper than that beneath the open pit, also at that 1.1%. All the data we reviewed indicated that the drill plan in the 60s was pretty haphazard. They didn't sort of do a great job at delineating out the project. So I think there is some great potential at this site. Um, but I think being a responsible mining company, producing tungsten in Montana, delivering off take to both commercial partners or the Department of War, um, that success. Like I said, you know, I didn't quit my job to sell this project at this time. I I could have done that. You know, we've got multiple um, let's see, six, seven, eight-figure offers on the property already. Um, and we're we're pushing forward to accomplish this mission.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

That's great. One final question. It's a personal one. What does success look like for you in the next 15 to 20 years?

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah, I think um I've already had success. I already feel successful. You know, I uh had no mining background, no geology background, and sort of to just be in this position already. Um I feel gratitude and success to this point, you know, enough to quit my full time job. Um, you know, in the next 15 to 20 years, hopefully, you know, the the mine life of this project will probably be done by then. Um hopefully we're on to the uh the next critical mineral here in the US that um, you know, no one else is working on, and we can be early on the next set of uh critical minerals that are important.