AW1: “Unsolicited approaches” from US government and US investors

Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (the Company) and Associated Entities own 14,722,222 AW1 Shares and 7,361,111 AW1 Options at the time of publishing this article. The Company has been engaged by AW1 to share our commentary on the progress of our Investment in AW1 over time. This information is general in nature about a speculative investment and does not constitute personal advice. It does not consider your objectives, financial situation, or needs.

American West Metals (ASX:AW1) owns the largest indium resource in the USA...

Indium is a critical mineral with military applications like infrared detectors, night vision systems, missile guidance systems, radar systems and F-35 fighter jets.

And the USA has zero domestic indium production...

AW1 says they have received "unsolicited approaches” from:

• The US Department of War (DoW),
• The US Department of Energy (DoE)
• The local government in Utah...
• And yesterday - from US investors for a NASDAQ or NYSE listing (source)

(“unsolicited” meaning that they were contacted by these groups without seeking the contact - like when you get that dinner time phone call asking if you are interested in “government rebates for installing solar panels on your roof” or “how to save on your electricity bill”)

So while many ASX listed US critical minerals companies with earlier stage projects are rushing around trying to “make things happen” with the US government and US investors...

AW1’s indium resource appears to be big enough that the US government and US investor interest is coming to them... without them trying.

(reminds us of “that guy” found on many Sunday sports teams that is naturally talented compared to the rest of us mere mortals who desperately want to be good so we practice and train very hard just to be on the team (yep, you Graver). Also like that kid at school who used to ace math tests without studying.)

Imagine if/when AW1 starts “putting their foot on the accelerator” with their USA indium asset, and actually begins actively “soliciting” for US interest in their project...

... and starts executing on the steps in “Our “playbook" for small ASX stocks advancing US critical minerals projects - which outlines the steps we think companies should take as quickly as possible to maximise their chance of success in the current “window of US urgency on critical minerals” that we are in right now (more on this in a second).

AW1 is also currently re-assaying historical drill cores at this project for gallium, following up an old hole on the project which had peak grades of 77.3g/t gallium over a 552m intercept (Source).

Assays from that gallium re-assaying program are due before the end of the month...

Gallium is used to create high-performance semiconductors essential for AI because of its superior thermal and electrical properties compared to traditional silicon.

So we might see some results announced soon that could show critical mineral gallium also found in AW1’s giant indium resource in the USA.

As we noted above, yesterday, AW1 said there was “unsolicited interest” from US investors to position the stock as a “US focused critical minerals company” on the NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange:

(Source)

And before that, 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)

Likely because AW1 owns 100% of the largest indium resource in the US.

AW1 also has an advanced stage copper asset in Canada which we think “backfills” AW1’s current $57M market cap - thus giving us a free kick at the US asset...

AW1’s current indium resource is based on assay results from just ~35% of the drilling done on its project.

So we don't even know how big AW1’s indium (and maybe gallium) resource actually is... it could end up being the biggest in the USA across two critical minerals...

The USA has zero domestic indium OR gallium production, relying 100% on imports to meet its demand.

China dominates controls ~70% of indium production and ~98% of gallium production globally.(source)(source)

The Pentagon (US Department of War) announced indium as one of the 12 critical minerals they are looking to buy for their US$1BN critical minerals stockpile:

(Source)

And AW1’s Managing Director Dave O’Neill said in a recent webinar that - “We have been approached by the Department of War, Department of Energy and local government to move this forward” (source)

Yesterday’s announcement from AW1 ticked off a few more boxes in our “playbook for small ASX stocks advancing US critical minerals projects” that we put together.

See our Saturday weekender on the playbook here: Our “playbook" for small ASX stocks advancing US critical minerals projects.

The playbook is a list of things we think ASX listed companies with critical minerals projects in the USA should deliver (as quickly as possible) so they are best positioned to take advantage of large capital flows into the sector:

Here is the full list, along with updates on how AW1 is tracking with those milestones right now:

✅ own or acquire a US based critical minerals project

⬜ appoint Washington lobbyist

🔄 Management spend time in USA or appoint US based operations person

✅ appoint experienced, big name advisors or board members

AW1 has John Prineas on the board - who is behind one of our best performing Investments for 2025 - St George Mining. St George is getting a lot of US traction and just attracted Gina Rinehart to its register.

✅ list on the US OTC market

YESTERDAY - AW1 upgraded its listing category on the OTC to an OTCQB listing - the second-highest OTC tier.

🔄 commence NASDAQ or NYSE listing process

AW1 is assessing this option - yesterday, AW1 confirmed it was receiving “unsolicited interest” from US investors to promote AW1 as a “US critical minerals focused company” (source)

⬜ acquire, license or partner with downstream processing technology provider

✅ deliver early metwork and processing of bulk samples, ahead of drilling

AW1 has previously done testwork on recovering indium from its deposit - work is ongoing to optimise recoveries (source)

⬜ prove samples can be processed - deliver downstream product

🔄 secure US government funding

AW1’s MD has previously said “We have been approached by the Department of War, Department of Energy and local government to move this forward”. (source)

✅ attract interest from private US investors

YESTERDAY - AW1 is receiving “unsolicited interest” from US investors. (source)

⬜ outline plan for small, cheap and fast mine

✅ deliver drilling success on project (doesn’t need to be huge), just commercial for a small mine

AW1’s already got the biggest indium deposit in the USA and is now testing the project for gallium too

⬜ use larger market cap to bolt on later stage/advanced projects in the USA

⬜ US investor roadshows

⬜ deliver domestic US critical minerals supply.

Our view is that we are still very early in the US critical minerals macro thematic - and we will need to see a few more companies reach billions of dollars in market cap before we hit the peak of the cycle...

(hopefully one of our Investments - no guarantees of course)

We haven’t even seen a downstream partner/customer really enter the scene and start signing big offtake deals yet (remember when the major carmakers were cutting cheques for lithium companies?)...

Things are starting to happen though - the largest bank in the USA, JP Morgan, announced it would invest US$1.5 trillion into “industries critical to the US national interest” including critical minerals.

And they have only done one deal so far...

(Source)

(Source)

We think this isn’t just a short term sugar rush of capital flowing into a sector - but more a permanent shift of capital to re-align US critical minerals supply chains and reduce dependency on foreign supply.

That sort of major shift doesn’t happen with a few announcements of funding deals and press releases, but with sustained capital investment into the sector over years...

Remember, building a mine takes years...

That’s why we think the early movers who can position themselves in the centre of the thematic will be the biggest winners (and why we are Invested in AW1).

We did a whole weekend note on the US critical minerals macro thematic just last week here.

Our Big Bet for AW1 is centred around the US macro thematic as follows:

Our AW1 Big Bet:

“AW1 receives capital from either the US government, a strategic partner or the capital markets to progress its Indium project in the USA, re-rating AW1 to a valuation that is multiples of our Initial Entry Price”

NOTE: our “Big Bet” is what we HOPE the ultimate success scenario looks like for this particular Investment over the long term (3+ years). There is no guarantee that our Big Bet will ever come true. There is a lot of work to be done, many risks involved, including development risk, country risk and commodity price risk - just some of which we list in our AW1 Investment Memo.

Success will require a significant amount of luck. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

11 reasons why we Invested in AW1

Below are the key reasons we published as part of our AW1 Investment Memo on the 16th of October 2025.

Check out the full initiation note here: Our New Investment: American West Metals (ASX: AW1)

1. AW1 has the biggest indium (critical mineral) resource in the USA - AW1 owns 100% of the West Desert Deposit in Utah - one of the biggest indium resources in the world and the single BIGGEST indium resource in the US...

2. Indium is listed as one of the 12 strategic defence critical minerals in the US - the Pentagon explicitly mentioned indium as one of the minerals it is looking to buy up as part of its stockpiling strategy. The only option to bring into production domestic supply would be AW1’s project.

3. China dominates global supply and has placed export restrictions on indium - ~70% of the world’s refined indium comes out of China and earlier in the year indium was one of the five critical minerals that China put export restrictions on.

4. The US has no domestic production and is 100% reliant on imports for indium - at the moment there is no domestic production of indium in the US. 100% of US demand is satisfied with imports...

5. AW1’s deposit could get bigger, only 35% of deposits’ drill cores assayed for indium so far - AW1’s project is a polymetallic deposit meaning it also has zinc, copper, silver and gold which were the focus of previous drilling. At the moment only 35% of the project’s old drillcore has been tested for indium, so the deposit could get bigger with more assay results.

6. AW1’s deposit might also have Gallium/Germanium potential - Gallium and germanium are other critical metals used in semiconductors. AW1 intercepts from its 2022 drill program found gallium and germanium. At the moment, only 10% of the drilling data on the project has been assayed for gallium or germanium.

7. Capital is flowing into US critical metals macro thematic - The US government through its different agencies is allocating billions of dollars to the critical minerals sector. More recently JP Morgan also announced it would put to work US$1.5 trillion in industries that are “critical to the U.S national interest”.

8. AW1 can follow the “US market listing playbook” - there is a playbook for ASX stocks to attract more attention and capital to projects that are based in the US. AW1 isn’t yet listed in the US and we think that if its project gets any traction it could go for a US listing that opens up the project to North American investors.

UPDATE:

AW1 is listed on the OTCQB market in the US.

Yesterday, AW1 said it was now assessing options for a listing in a larger exchange like the NASDAQ or NYSE.

9. We are backing John Prineas here - we Invested in John’s other company St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) and it has been one of our best performers this year, up 560% from our Initial Entry Price. John has managed to capture US critical minerals macro momentum with SGQ’s rare earths asset. We are hoping AW1 is able to repeat SGQ’s success.

10. AW1 hasn’t yet run like most other US critical minerals stocks - most juniors who pick up exploration ground in the US are trading at market caps in the $20-30M range. We think that AW1 should trade at a premium to these companies given its indium asset is at a relatively advanced stage and the biggest in the USA.

11. We think AW1’s copper asset more than underpins its current valuation - The company’s copper asset in Canada has had a Preliminary Economic Assessment done on it showing an after tax Net Present Value (NPV) for the project of US$149M. AW1 already has binding commitments for offtake and development financing for this project too.

What’s next for AW1

Sampling of previous drilling on US critical minerals project 🔄

We are looking forward to the results from the re-sampling on the US asset.

We are especially looking forward to seeing if the indium resource gets bigger AND if AW1 can define a large gallium resource to go with its current resources.

Results from the sampling are expected in 3-4 weeks.

(Source)

Pre Feasibility Study (PFS) for Canadian copper project 🔄

We are mainly Invested in AW1 for its US critical minerals project.

But we are also looking forward to news from the company’s Canadian copper project.

We want to see AW1 deliver a Pre-Feasibility Study and key permits related to developing the project.

Here are the milestones we will be tracking:

🔄 Pre-Feasibility Study

🔄 Environmental Studies

🔄 Mining/development permits

What are the risks?

In the short term the two key risks are “critical minerals macro thematic” and “permitting risk”.

First, the US asset is heavily reliant on the macro thematic for US critical minerals being strong.

If there are downturns in sentiment then the likelihood of AW1’s project being developed decreases.

Critical Minerals Macro risk

A big part of our Investment is related to critical minerals macro sentiment strengthening and resulting in a funding deal for AW1’s US indium project. IF macro sentiment was to turn, then the chances of that asset being funded/brought online would reduce significantly. This could mean a re-rate lower in AW1’s share price.

Source: “What could go wrong” - AW1 Investment Memo 16 October 2025

For the Canadian copper project the key risk is permitting.

Like all mining projects, it's possible that permits are rejected or delayed which could push back the development timelines of the project.

Permitting Risk

AW1 will need to get permitting in order for its Canadian copper project. If this permit is delayed or rejected it may be a drag on the AW1 share price.

Source: “What could go wrong” - AW1 Investment Memo 16 October 2025

Other risks

Like any small cap exploration company, investing in AW1 involves a range of risks, some known, some unknown (this is the nature of investing in early-stage companies).

Here we aim to identify a few more risks.

AW1’s indium project, while large and strategically located in the US, is still at the pre-development stage. There is a risk the project does not progress to production or that feasibility studies show weaker-than-expected economics.

The indium market itself is small, opaque, and subject to significant price swings. Limited transparency around pricing and supply chains could impact project valuation and investor sentiment.

Although AW1’s US project is fully permitted for an open-pit mine, the company will still need to secure ancillary approvals for development and production. Any delays or regulatory changes could push timelines back.

There is also the risk that AW1 is unable to attract US government or strategic funding despite being well-positioned in the critical minerals thematic.

AW1 remains reliant on capital markets to fund project development. Future equity raisings could dilute existing shareholders, while debt funding may not be available on favourable terms.

Investors should consider these risks carefully and seek professional advice tailored to their personal circumstances before investing.

Our AW1 Investment Memo

You can read our AW1 Investment Memo in the link below.

We use this memo to track the progress of all our Investments over time.

Our AW1 Investment Memo covers:

• What does AW1 do?
• The macro theme for AW1
• Our AW1 Big Bet
• What we want to see AW1 achieve
• Why we are Invested in AW1
• The key risks to our Investment Thesis
• Our Investment Plan