A new report by the Financial Times notes a growing trend of Chinese buyers purchasing tungsten from US scrap yards for stockpiling, a trend that has been running since early 2025.
Tungsten, a key critical mineral with military applications, is experiencing global shortages and intense demand as the world’s major economies are all seeking to control and stockpile defence critical minerals.
The FT report notes that the purchasing of scrap tungsten by Chinese buyers is driving up prices, prompting bidding wars with American buyers, and leading to calls to ban sales to overseas buyers, though there are currently no bans on sales of tungsten for export in the US.
Supply shortages globally were initially triggered by export restrictions imposed in early 2025 by China as well as overall mining quotas being cut within the country. Fastmarkets reported in early 2026 that China’s tungsten mining quota had been reduced for a third year in a row, with annual cuts of around 6% leading to additional supply tightening.
China accounts for over half of the global supply of mined and refined tungsten and about half of demand, but lower mining quotas domestically have sent Chinese buyers elsewhere — including the US — while the US itself is looking to gain access as well.
While China has banned the import of tungsten scrap, it allows for the scrap to be processed elsewhere and then imported into the country. Key recycling hubs have arisen in the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and South Korea to process the scrap prior to it entering China.
The US is developing a tungsten strategy, with the backing of financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Export Import Bank of the US (EXIM), focused on financing projects and stockpiling the critical mineral.
Cove Capital, a private equity firm with a focus on tungsten projects in Kazakhstan, has received around US$900 million ($1.28 billion) from EXIM and US$700 million from the DFC for project funding.
EQ Resources (ASX:EQR), one of the largest tungsten producers outside of China, Russia, and North Korea, operates mines in North Queensland, Australia, and in Salamanca, Spain. EQ is currently positioned to feed into the global supply, as previously reported by Mining.com.au, with a current focus on scaling output and expanding reserves and crushing capacity.
The scramble for tungsten underscores the mineral’s essential role. With Chinese buyers competing in US scrap markets, the US accelerating financing for overseas projects, and producers like EQ Resources scaling output, the contest for control of this critical mineral is intensifying.
As defence demand grows and export restrictions tighten, tungsten has become symbolic of the broader struggle to secure reliable supply of strategic resources in an era of heightened global competition.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: EQ Resources
