Titan Mining Selected by the U.S. Army to Establish First-Ever Public-Private Partnership for Domestic Critical Minerals Processing on Strategic Defense Installations
Titan secures a U.S. Army base deal, establishing itself as Washington’s primary partner for domestic graphite purification.
Titan Mining Corporation announced on June 25, 2026, that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Empire State Mines, LLC, received Conditional Selection Notices from the U.S. Army for Enhanced Use Lease opportunities at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas and Anniston Army Depot in Alabama. The awards authorize Titan to design, finance, build, and operate the Kilbourne Graphite Purification Plant, which will produce Purified Micronized Graphite and Coated Spherical Purified Graphite for defense and energy applications.
The lease term extends up to 50 years under 10 U.S.C. § 2667, with zero taxpayer cost, as Empire State Mines bears all development and operating expenses. In-kind infrastructure improvements replace cash rent. Construction is targeted for the second half of 2027, following upcoming Business Terms negotiations. The initiative is explicitly linked to Executive Order 14241, issued in March 2025, and aims to eliminate U.S. reliance on foreign graphite imports.
Titan Mining Corporation (TI) has received a significant update regarding its graphite purification plans, marked by a new Environmental Use License (EUL) notice from the U.S. Army. While the company’s prior roadmap included downstream graphite purification for PMG and CSPG, the proposal to site the plant on active U.S. defense installations was not previously disclosed. Under this arrangement, the Army serves as both land partner and implicit offtake sponsor.
This development secures a long-term site on federal property, aligning the project with national security mandates and de-risking the commercial-scale purification stage. The agreement also strengthens Titan’s position in financing discussions, specifically anchoring the Export-Import Bank’s $120 million Letter of Intent (LOI) to a project with Army backing. This positions the company as a natural partner for Pentagon-related graphite supply.
The project remains conditional, with a Business Terms Agreement still pending and construction not scheduled until the second half of 2027. The shift from a purely commercial plant to a publicly-chartered defense-industrial facility represents a structural change for the company.
Titan Mining Corporation is a dual-commodity producer based in upstate New York. Its flagship asset is the Empire State Mines (ESM), a high-grade underground zinc mine with a 5,000-tpd mill, supported by open-pit resources. Co-located is the Kilbourne Graphite Project, a large flake-graphite deposit advancing toward commercial production. Titan also has exposure to germanium, a byproduct of zinc processing, and controls more than 120,000 acres of mineral rights in the district. The company is listed on the NYSE American (TII) and TSX (TI). It generates cash from zinc operations while developing graphite and critical-minerals supply chains heavily aligned with U.S. industrial policy.