Published: October 22, 2026 |

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American Resources, together with ReElement Technologies, has executed a new agreement with Uzbekistan Technological Metals Complex (UzTMK) and the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan (UFRD) to advance their strategic collaboration in tungsten processing and refining.

“We are extremely pleased to advance our relationship with UzTMK and UFRD beyond the MOU stage and into a clearly defined commercial demonstration program. Our initial success in refining Uzbek-sourced tungsten provides an important technical foundation for this next phase,” said Mark Jensen, chairman and CEO of American Resources and ReElement Technologies.

“We believe we have reached a pivotal moment when mineral security has never been more important to economic prosperity and national security. Cooperation between the United States and Uzbekistan can establish a new model for critical mineral supply chains — one built on collaboration and mutual economic benefit. We believe Uzbekistan is the ideal country to pioneer this model of cooperation. Our objective is not simply to move raw materials from one country to another, but to deploy technology that creates higher-value products for both countries,” added Jensen.

Under the newly executed agreement, the parties have agreed on expanded technological evaluation and a commercial demonstration program utilizing Uzbek-sourced tungsten at ReElement’s U.S. facilities, designed to further validate commercial viability, processing efficiencies, product quality, and scalability.

The agreement was signed in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, during the American-Uzbek Business and Investment Council event, held in connection with broader U.S.-Uzbekistan and C5+1 diplomatic and commercial engagements involving President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, Saida Mirziyoyeva, Head of the Presidential Administration of Uzbekistan, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs Sergio Gor. The signing reflects the growing commitment of both countries to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation, expand investment, and develop more secure and diversified critical mineral supply chains.

The new agreement advances the parties’ November 2025 memorandum of understanding beyond initial technical evaluation toward a structured commercial demonstration and engineering program. Through the existing collaboration, ReElement has successfully validated the processing of Uzbek-sourced tungsten into high-purity oxide form using its proprietary refining technology.

Tungsten is an increasingly strategic critical mineral essential to industrial, defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and electronics applications. With global tungsten supply chains highly concentrated and increasingly subject to geopolitical and trade-related disruptions, secure, diversified refining capacity has become a growing priority. ReElement’s proprietary, modular refining platform is designed around a demand-aligned refining model, producing high-purity critical mineral products tailored to downstream customer specifications while aligning processing capacity with commercial demand.

An equally important component of the collaboration is the advancement of preliminary engineering, process design, and techno-economic modeling for potential tungsten refining operations in Uzbekistan, as the parties evaluate opportunities to establish higher-value processing and refining capabilities closer to the source of the minerals.

The agreement also establishes a joint working group of all four parties to coordinate technical activities, engineering and economic evaluations, and subsequent project proposals, and includes opportunities for Uzbek technical specialists to visit ReElement’s U.S. facilities and evaluate additional applications of the technology.

The initiative reflects a new model for international critical mineral development — one that moves beyond the traditional approach of extracting, concentrating, and exporting raw materials. Instead, the parties are connecting complementary capabilities across resource development, advanced processing, refining, and downstream industrial markets to maximize economic benefits for both countries.

For Uzbekistan, this approach has the potential to support domestic industrial development, technological advancement, skilled employment, and greater value creation from its mineral resources. For the United States, it offers expanded access to diversified critical mineral supplies while supporting American-developed refining technologies.

American Resources and ReElement believe this collaboration is a practical example of how American innovation and Uzbekistan’s resource and industrial strengths can be de-risked and connected to deliver lasting economic value to both nations.

American Resources Corporation is strategically developing a collaborative critical materials ecosystem through its platform orchestration strategy, which brings together complementary capabilities across commercial feedstock origination, industrial processing, and advanced refining. Through this capital-efficient approach, the company is building a flexible platform designed to adapt to evolving technologies, customer requirements, and national priorities while strengthening domestic and allied critical mineral supply chains. The company’s operating platforms span conventional and unconventional resource sourcing, feedstock aggregation, recycling, processing, conditioning, and advanced refining through its strategic affiliation with, and former parent relationship to, ReElement Technologies, a leading provider of high-performance refining capacity for rare earth elements and critical minerals. Together, these complementary capabilities enable American Resources to efficiently align diverse feedstock sources with growing commercial, industrial, and defense-sector demand. By integrating complementary operating platforms rather than relying on traditional vertical integration, the company is positioned to expand efficiently while supporting resilient, commercially sustainable supply chains across infrastructure, defense, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, energy, and electrification markets.

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