American Tungsten Corp. (CSE:TUNG) (OTCQB:DEMRF) has kicked off construction activities at its flagship Ima tungsten project in east-central Idaho, marking a key step toward reviving one of the region’s most historically significant tungsten mines.

In a news release Tuesday, the company confirmed that it has initiated building and rehabilitation work aimed at supporting upcoming exploration, mine planning, and infrastructure evaluation. The effort is intended to lay the groundwork for a more advanced phase of development, including definition drilling and bulk sampling—key elements in preparing a modern mine plan.

The Ima Mine is located on 22 patented claims and was previously in production between 1945 and 1957. During that period, it yielded roughly 199,449 metric ton units (MTUs) of tungsten trioxide (WO₃). From 1960 through 2008, the site attracted attention from various operators, who explored the property for both molybdenum and tungsten, though no commercial production resumed.

“The team is excited to have come back from a successful site visit that paves the way to rehabilitation, environmental sampling and stakeholder relations in order to begin plans to bring Ima back to production,” said American Tungsten CEO Ali Haji.

As part of the renewed development effort, American Tungsten said it is contracting out the rehabilitation of certain segments of the property's access roads, initiating the collection of baseline environmental data, and conducting a comprehensive review of existing infrastructure. The company is also digitizing decades of historical exploration data, which will aid in modeling the mineralized zones more accurately.

“Review and compilation of the historical drilling, sampling and metallurgical testing completed by historical operators has identified multiple drill targets across the property and demonstrated viability of gravity separation of tungsten and sulfide flotation processes,” said VP of Exploration Austin Zinsser. He added, “The team developed a plan to initiate work where the prior operator left off, with delineation drilling and continued flowsheet development for the vein system on the upper level.”

The company aims to capitalize on favorable tungsten market dynamics driven by increasing demand for critical minerals in defense, electronics, and clean energy applications. Tungsten is recognized by the U.S. government as a critical mineral due to its industrial importance and limited domestic production.

American Tungsten's shares rose 7.4% on the Canadian Securities Exchange Tuesday, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately C$18.6 million (US$13.5 million).

Originally reported by Mining.Com