3 Proton Lithium Confirms Multiple World-Class Critical Minerals at Railroad Valley, Including the Discovery of the United States' Largest Tungsten Resource

Updated Resource Report measures lithium, potash, and boron in a single Nevada salt complex along with the discovery of the largest known tungsten deposit in the United States

Together, the resource represents an estimated $3.5 trillion in gross in-ground value and hundreds of years of US supply of critical minerals the country now largely imports

CARSON CITY, Nev., Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- 3 Proton Lithium Inc. (3PL) today released the updated Resource Report for its Railroad Valley Minerals Project in Nye County, Nevada, confirming measured resources of multiple world-class critical minerals in a single salt complex. The findings include a discovery of an inferred tungsten resource of approximately 1.78 million tons, more than five times the largest tungsten resource currently listed in the United States, a Tier I critical mineral the country has not mined commercially since 2015.

Resource Highlights

• Lithium. 31 million tons of measured Lithium Carbonate Equivalent within a 118.9 million ton deposit, among the largest lithium resources in North America.
  
  
• Potash. 533 million tons of measured Potash, a mineral the United States imports at more than a 90 percent reliance rate and which the USGS added to its critical minerals list in 2026.
  
  
• Boron. 87 million tons of measured borate minerals at world-class concentration, multiples larger than existing and prospective US boron projects.
  
  
• Tungsten. 1.78 million tons of inferred tungsten, a Tier I critical mineral the United States has not mined commercially since 2015 and now imports amid Chinese control of the global market.

3PL's Railroad Valley Minerals Project spans 39,000 acres of leases covering the entire sodium-rich salt complex. It has been drilled, wireline logged, and cored across four deep wells drilled by 3PL, supported by logs from 290 oil wells, drill cuttings from 13 of those wells, a seismic grid that defines individual salt beds, and a magnetotelluric grid that delineates a brine pool of 23 billion barrels of recoverable fluid. The deposit is divided into 37 stratigraphic members, ten of which have been sufficiently examined. The critical mineral deposits reported as measured sits within these ten members. The validation rests on more than 2,500 independent Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) samples and 42,000 thousand feet of examined core and cuttings.

"We now have a measured, world-class deposit of multiple critical minerals in one basin, and the one discovery that surprised even us is tungsten," said Kevin Moore, Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, 3 Proton Lithium. "This is a metal the United States stopped mining a decade ago and now imports while China controls and manipulates the global market. To find more of it here than anywhere, alongside large, measured lithium, potash, and boron at world-class grade, is not a mining story. It is a national security story."

Beyond tungsten, Railroad Valley contains 31 million tons of measured Lithium Carbonate Equivalent within a total deposit of 118.9 million tons, one of the largest lithium resources in North America, with salt zones that average 500 to 800 parts per million lithium and peaks above 1,000. The deposit includes 533 million tons of measured Potash, a mineral the United States imports at more than a 90 percent reliance rate and which the United States Geological Survey (USGS) added to its critical minerals list in 2026. Also included are 87 million tons of measured Borate minerals at world-class concentrations, a resource multiple times larger than existing and prospective U.S. boron projects. Together these four minerals represent an estimated $3.5 trillion gross in-ground value. The resources measured so far represent hundreds of years of US supply, based on current usage levels.

The mineral diversity reflects the unique evaporite geology of the Railroad Valley basin. The four minerals occur as soluble salts at depths between 1,200 and 2,800 feet and can be recovered by solution mining from 80-acre surface footprints, avoiding open pits, waste rock, and acid plants required of conventional hard-rock mining.

A defining feature of 3PL's approach is the commercial production of the sodium present in the brine. Rather than working around the heavy sodium elements as conventional Direct Lithium Extraction does, 3PL proposes to remove, sell, and utilize sodium carbonate and sodium sulfate in its internal processes of purity comparable to the Green River, Wyoming deposit. That revenue and cost-offset will defray the base capital and operating costs of the operation and reduce the marginal cost of extracting each critical mineral that follows.

3PL holds a FAST-41 Transparency designation awarded by the Trump administration, that identifies the project as strategically significant to United States national security, economic growth, and energy self-reliance. The company has engaged with the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Permitting Council, and the Energy Dominance Council while advancing the project.

Many of the remaining 27 stratigraphic members are also pay-grade salt deposits expected to add resources as they are evaluated. 3PL continues to advance discussions with potential strategic partners, large-scale investors, and government financing sources.

About 3 Proton Lithium Inc.

3 Proton Lithium, Inc. is a privately held critical minerals and rare earth elements exploration company. Founded in 2017 and based in Carson City, Nevada, 3PL is engaged in the exploration and development of the Railroad Valley Super Brine Complex. For more information, visit www.3protonlithium.com.

SOURCE 3PL