Highlights

• Tungsten is officially classified as a critical mineral by the U.S., EU, and Canada due to its irreplaceable role in cutting tools, aerospace, defense, and precision manufacturing.
• China controls over 80% of global tungsten production and refining.
• The real strategic vulnerability isn't in tungsten mining—it's in the downstream processing of ammonium paratungstate (APT), oxides, and carbide.
• China's export controls create supply chain bottlenecks for Western defense and industrial sectors.
• Vietnam's Nui Phao mine represents one of the few significant non-China refining nodes.
• Scaling alternative APT and carbide facilities outside China remains the critical challenge for supply chain resilience.

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Tungsten does not generate headlines like lithium or rare earths. It should. With the highest melting point of any metal and exceptional hardness, tungsten underpins cutting tools, industrial wear parts, aerospace components, and certain military applications. It is foundational to modern machining and precision manufacturing. That strategic importance is now formally recognized: tungsten appears on the 2025 U.S. Critical Minerals List, the European Union’s critical raw materials list, and Canada’s critical minerals list. Across the Western policy spectrum, tungsten is classified as high-risk and economically indispensable.

Most tungsten is processed and mined in China, which accounts for over 80% of global production and holds the largest reserves. As the dominant player, China controls the majority of the supply chain, followed by Vietnam and Russia. 

What’s Tungsten Used for?

Tungsten is a critical, ultra-dense, ultra-hard metal whose value comes less from the raw element than from its dominant commercial form—cemented tungsten carbide, which accounts for roughly 60–65% of global use as the backbone of wear-resistant tooling. Again, with the highest melting point of any metal (3,422°C) and a density near gold, tungsten thrives where heat, impact, and abrasion destroy substitutes.

Its biggest demand sits in mining, construction, and oil & gas (drill bits, tunnel cutters, nozzles, wear parts) and metalworking/machining (cutting inserts, milling tools, wire-drawing dies). It also plays a strategic role in aerospace and defense via high-temperature components and high-density counterweights and penetrators; in electronics through filaments, electrodes, X-ray targets, electrical contacts, and semiconductor interconnects; and in automotive for wear coatings and balancing weights. Beyond industry, tungsten appears in medical radiation shielding (a safer alternative to lead) and in niche applications, from jewelry and sports weights to catalysts/lubricants, and even in nuclear/fusion-related shielding and furnace components.

“China Dominates” Is Accurate—but Not Specific Enough

The common narrative is that China dominates tungsten mining and processing. Directionally, that is correct. However, the real leverage lies not merely in ore extraction, but in refined intermediates—ammonium paratungstate (APT), (opens in a new tab) tungsten oxides, powders, and tungsten carbide.

These are the materials that flow into defense supply chains, industrial tooling manufacturers, and semiconductor-adjacent applications. Reuters has documented how Chinese export controls and licensing regimes have tightened availability and driven price volatility. That downstream bottleneck—not the mine itself—is where industrial risk crystallizes.

Tungsten security, therefore, is less about geology and more about who can reliably deliver qualified chemical and powder products at scale.

Nui Phao: Strategic Asset, Carefully Defined

Vietnam’s Nui Phao (opens in a new tab) operation is frequently described as the “largest tungsten mine.” That phrasing overreaches. A more precise description: Nui Phao is widely regarded as one of the largest tungsten mines and processing complexes outside China, accounting for a significant portion of Vietnam’s output.

Its importance is not confined to extraction. The site includes chemical processing capacity that produces APT and tungsten oxides, making it one of the few meaningful non-China refining nodes. In strategic terms, Nui Phao represents infrastructure—not merely mineralization.

Market Size: Larger Than It Looks

Estimates of the global tungsten market vary depending on the definition—concentrate versus chemicals versus carbide end-products. One commonly cited industry estimate places the market at around $7.3 billion in 2025, though narrower methodologies yield lower figures.

Regardless of precise valuation, tungsten’s importance exceeds its headline market size because it sits inside mission-critical manufacturing chains where substitution is costly, and qualification cycles are long.

Some Investor Questions

• Which non-China APT and carbide facilities can scale under realistic permitting and energy constraints?
• Which projects have secured bankable, defense-grade offtake agreements?
• Will Western governments prioritize stockpiles, tariffs, loan guarantees, or direct refinery buildouts among trusted partners?

In tungsten, as in rare earths, upstream geology is a key focus. Downstream processing defines power.

Sources: USGS; European Commission; Government of Canada; Reuters; Vietnam industry reporting; market research estimates.