Almonty: Why tungsten is the most critical of all metals

How China secured its dominance in the tungsten market

Tungsten is one of those metals that has received little public attention to date. Nevertheless, it is virtually irreplaceable for industry: tungsten is found in semiconductors, medical devices, machinery, drill bits, rocket tips, armor, and every other production chain in the high-tech sector. Often, industry requires only very small amounts of tungsten. However, if supplies fail to arrive, production comes to a complete standstill.

During the 2010s, tungsten was still inexpensive and widely available. China ensured that foreign competitors had to leave the market with a long-term plan and high subsidies for its mines. As Almonty CEO Lewis Black knows, there were still around 100 active tungsten mines outside China in the 1970s. By the end of the 1990s, there were only two left.

Industry rethinks tungsten, but too late

Western industry accepted this development – after all, China was a reliable and cheap supplier. Only a few observers, such as Black himself, saw the concentration of global tungsten supply as a risk. Almonty invested in the disused Sangdong mine in South Korea back in 2015 and pushed ahead with its revitalization, thanks in part to the support of important anchor shareholders such as the Austrian Plansee Group and Deutsche Rohstoff AG. The project, which could account for up to 10% of tungsten supply outside China, will go into regular operation this summer.

Many industrial customers have now also changed their thinking and are prioritizing security of supply. On several occasions, China has recently imposed severe restrictions on exports of strategic metals such as rare earths and tungsten. At the same time, the country is increasingly positioning itself as an importer and has cut subsidies for its domestic tungsten industry. "China's strategy is to stifle its competitors rather than compete on price," says Black. But this late realization brings little relief to industrial customers from Western nations – even once the Sangdong mine, for which Almonty Industries has already signed offtake agreements with industry, is operational, supply remains tight. "I know that I will have to tell many interested parties that I am unfortunately unable to supply them immediately," Black recently stated in a recent article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) discussing China's export policy on critical raw materials.

Tungsten production is highly complex – Knowledge is key

This situation is unlikely to change significantly. Although the Sangdong mine still has potential for expansion after production starts in the summer, tungsten capacities are limited in every respect. Black, who is also responsible for tungsten projects within the EU at Almonty, points to lengthy approval procedures for new raw material projects and other pitfalls that make tungsten a complicated raw material: The technical know-how for the economical processing of tungsten has been lost in many Western countries. Production is highly complex, and the material is abrasive, brittle, and difficult to process. Almonty relies on two cast roll crushers built in Birmingham in 1926 for crushing in Sangdong. "At first, our customers could not understand why a 21st-century company would use such machines, but they work perfectly," says Black, who is also benefiting from the knowledge gained at Almonty's Panasqueira mine in Portugal, one of the oldest tungsten mines in the world, in setting up the mine in South Korea. Black knows that tungsten projects quickly become unprofitable if inexperienced teams are used for on-site mining and processing. In the past, subsidies often resulted in Chinese producers having little incentive to develop this specific expertise.

Market offers good conditions for tungsten producers

Black is certain that the Sangdong mine will go into regular operation in the summer. After eight years of preparation, including pilot plants in Korea and Portugal, in-house technological developments, and the use of technology that is now a hundred years old, nothing can stop the team. For investors, the opening of the Sangdong mine could be a turning point. For the first time in decades, a reliable, Western-controlled source of a metal that is essential for military, industrial, and digital sovereignty is emerging. Now that buyers from industry have also realized that security of supply is crucial, the conditions are favorable for producers like Almonty. As Black explains, buyers are increasingly signing long-term supply contracts that guarantee producers minimum prices but are not capped on the upside. In other words, those who can deliver reliably benefit without limitation from the growing scarcity of this critical defense and high-tech metal.

With the Sangdong mine, its knowledge of tungsten production and processing built up over many years, and its established partnerships with companies such as the Austrian Plansee Group and the South Korean SeAH Group, Almonty is ideally positioned to supply the Western world with tungsten. Analysts such as Matthias Greiffenberger of GBC Research and Peter Thilo Hassler of Sphene Capital see further upside potential even after the recent rise in Almonty's share price.