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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — American News Group News Commentary – There is a number in the U.S. Geological Survey’s February 2026 Mineral Commodity Summary that explains most of what has happened to the tungsten market this year. China mined 67,000 of the world’s 85,000 metric tons of tungsten in 2025. Vietnam, the next largest producer, mined 3,000. The United States mined none, and has shipped zero tungsten from a domestic mine every year since 2015. Beijing has spent the last eighteen months turning that concentration into policy, and Washington has spent the same period writing rules that assume a domestic supply chain the country does not currently have. Companies mentioned in today’s commentary include: Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2), Guardian Metal Resources plc (NYSE American: GMTL), Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU), NioCorp Developments Ltd. (Nasdaq: NB), and Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE: LAC).
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Key Takeaways
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- The price has tripled inside nine months. Fastmarkets assessed tungsten concentrate, basis 50 to 70% WO3, cif global, at $750 to $850 per metric tonne unit at the start of 2026. Since May 29 it has held at $2,500 to $2,800 per mtu, after what the agency described as an almost unbroken run of increases.
- Export access is now a list of fifteen names. China said in December 2025 that only 15 firms would be authorized to export tungsten in 2026 and 2027, formalized through its dual-use items catalogue. Buyers outside China are competing for whatever those fifteen release.
- A U.S. procurement deadline lands January 1, 2027. Under DFARS 252.225-7052, the country-of-origin test for covered defense items widens from the melt or production stage to the mine or ore stage, and recycled and scrap material will no longer reset country of origin. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are the covered countries.
- Federal capital has already arrived in the sector. At an August 7, 2026 White House roundtable the administration announced a critical minerals package reported at roughly $3 billion, with the White House separately itemizing more than $2 billion of project commitments.
- Western Star has added capital markets experience to its board. Effective September 11, 2026, Garland Scott joins the board of directors, bringing 26 years across financial services, business development and strategic consulting, including senior roles at Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
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A Market That Broke Its Own Arbitrage
What happened to tungsten in 2026 was not an ordinary commodity move. Export licensing requirements introduced in early 2025 and formalized in China’s January 2026 dual-use catalogue restricted seaborne availability of ammonium paratungstate in particular, and the mechanism that once tied domestic Chinese prices to international ones stopped functioning properly. Traders describe a rupture in the price relationship, with mid and downstream customers outside China unable to obtain material and paying whatever it takes.
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The result is a two-tier market. Inside China, price formation continues under a domestic mining quota that has itself been reduced against falling ore grades at mature deposits. Outside China, buyers are bidding against each other for a restricted pool released by fifteen authorized exporters. Demand on the western side of that divide is not softening either: defense procurement of kinetic penetrators and armor-piercing ammunition sits alongside fast-growing tungsten wire demand for diamond wire solar wafer cutting.