In July 2019, workers expanded a mine in Germany in an effort to increase supplies of tungsten and fluorspar.
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BEIJING – A South Korean mine operator said on Wednesday that U.S. government researchers recently visited the mine to assess progress in increasing supplies of the key metal tungsten outside China.
Sangdong Mine, owned by a Canadian subsidiary almonte industriesis expected to resume operations this year. Tungsten is an extremely hard metal used in the manufacture of weapons, semiconductors and industrial cutting machines.
China accounts for more than 80% Almonti claims the mine could produce 50% of the rest of the world’s tungsten supply.
Tungsten has not been mined commercially in the United States since 2015, according to the latest annual report from the U.S. Geological Survey, a government agency that analyzes natural resource availability.
According to the report, four mineral resources scholars visited the Sangdong Mine under the leadership of Sean Xun, assistant director of the agency’s National Mineral Information Center.
It added that the USGS would provide a “significant update” to its assessment of the mine in a 2025 report to be released in the first three months of next year.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment made outside U.S. business hours.
The Biden administration has identified critical minerals and announced tariffs on tungsten and other metals as part of a broader effort to strengthen national security.
“Of the 35 mineral commodities deemed critical by the Ministry of Interior, In 2019, 13 countries in the United States relied 100% on foreign resources”, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Almonty said it would spend at least $125 million to reopen the Sangdong mine, which closed in the 1990s.
Over the past year and a half, China has begun using its influence in parts of the global supply chain for critical minerals to control exports.
So far, Beijing has not imposed any restrictions on tungsten. But upcoming rules restricting exports of similar metal antimony have Raised expectations Tungsten will soon be subject to more export restrictions from China.
Gabriel Wildau, managing director at consultancy Teneo, said: “If Donald Trump wins the US presidential election and follows through on his threat to significantly increase tariffs on China, Beijing may impose new export controls on critical minerals , or deploy existing control measures more forcefully.
“Chinese regulators may also selectively impose controls, denying minerals to specific foreign companies seen as supporting Washington’s technology containment agenda.”
He added that the U.S. Department of Energy has allocated $151 million to encourage domestic mining and processing of critical minerals, and Western countries are expected to respond to Beijing’s “calibrated weaponization of critical minerals” by accelerating efforts to reduce dependence on China.
