Tungsten is a dense, heat-resistant metal used in armor-piercing munitions, tank armor and missile components, but the US has no operating domestic mine producing it at scale. That gap has drawn renewed attention as Washington moves to restrict defense procurement linked to China and other designated countries.

Against that backdrop, energy company Western Star has deployed field crews to a past-producing tungsten site in Nevada, part of a historic mining district that once supplied the metal for industrial and military use. 

Recently, company crews had mobilized to its White Star Tungsten Project in Elko County, launching the first modern exploration program across the property and surrounding workings of the former Mission Cross Mine. Work includes a drone-based magnetic survey and soil sampling to identify subsurface structures and mineralized zones ahead of potential drilling.

China’s dominance drives historic reset in tungsten pricing

China dominates the global tungsten market, accounting for about 80% of mined supply and controlling much of the refining chain for ammonium paratungstate (APT), powder and carbide products. Rotterdam APT, the main benchmark for tungsten buyers, has traded at $3,000 to $3,200 per metric tonne unit through mid-2026 after a sharp multi-year rise. 

Prices are up about 350% this year and roughly 900% from 2025 lows, and APT that traded below $250/mtu in 2020 is now in a much higher pricing range, reflecting tighter supply rather than typical commodity volatility. Export restrictions introduced since 2023 have tightened further, and in late 2025 China limited tungsten exports to 15 approved companies for 2026-27, giving authorities tighter control over volumes and destinations.

China’s mined tungsten output is estimated to have fallen about 10% year over year in 2025 as aging deposits and declining ore grades weigh on production, highlighting a supply chain heavily concentrated in a single country and increasingly constrained by resource quality. 

The result is a metal effectively locked into a narrow supply base, echoing similar strategic vulnerabilities seen in rare earths, gallium and antimony, where limited upstream sources leave downstream industries exposed.

Defense and AI growth tighten outlook for Tungsten supply chain

Demand for tungsten is expected to rise steadily over the next decade, driven by defense, aerospace, semiconductors and industrial carbide applications, with additional pressure coming from expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure, where tungsten compounds are used in advanced chip manufacturing.

That demand outlook is colliding with a hard policy deadline, and a federal procurement rule taking effect January 1, 2027 will bar tungsten sourced from China and other designated countries from a wide range of US defense applications, forcing contractors to secure alternative supply chains.

For US-based developers, the priority is shifting toward near-term, verifiable domestic supply sources, a position Western Star is seeking to capture with its Nevada project. The first phase is a property-wide UAV magnetic survey, designed to generate the first modern high-resolution geophysical dataset for the site. 

Drone-based magnetics can quickly map subsurface rock signatures and structural features that often control tungsten-bearing skarn mineralization, with Western Star expecting initial processed results from its contractor in the coming weeks. The program also includes mapping and verification of historical workings at the former Mission Cross Mine, including pits, underground workings, trenches, shafts and waste dumps, to align past production records with modern geospatial data.

Western Star added that the work is intended to support district-scale consolidation, combining White Star and Rowland data into a unified geological model across the Jarbidge–Charleston tungsten footprint.

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