US researchers visit Korean tungsten mine amid critical mineral race with China

BEIJING — U.S. government researchers recently visited a South Korean mine to assess progress toward increasing supplies of a critical metal called tungsten from areas outside China, the mine operator said Wednesday.

Sangdong Mine, owned by a subsidiary of Canada Almonty Industriesis to resume its activity this year. Tungsten is an extremely hard metal used to make weapons, semiconductors and industrial cutting machines.

With China dominating more than 80% of the metal’s supply chain, Almonty claims the mine could produce 50% of the rest of the world’s tungsten supply.

The US has not mined tungsten commercially since 2015, according to the latest annual report from the US Geological Survey, a government agency that analyzes the availability of natural resources.

Four mineral resource scientists visited the Sangdong mine on a trip led by Sean Xun, assistant chief at the agency’s National Mineral Information Center, the report said.

The US Geological Survey will make a “significant update” on its assessment of the mine in its 2025 report, due out in the first three months of next year, it added.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment made outside business hours in the US.

The Biden administration has identified critical minerals and announced tariffs on tungsten and others as part of a broader effort to strengthen national security.

“Of the 35 mineral commodities considered critical by the Department of the Interior, the United States was 100 percent dependent on foreign sources for 13 in 2019,” according to the US Geological Survey.

Almonty said it is spending at least $125 million to reopen the Sangdong mine, which closed in the 1990s.

China, in the past year and a half, has begun to use its leverage in parts of the global supply chain of critical minerals to control exports.

Beijing has so far avoided any restrictions on tungsten. But upcoming rules limiting exports of a similar metal called antimony have raised expectations that tungsten will soon be subject to more export restrictions from China.

“If Donald Trump wins the US presidency and follows through on his threat to dramatically raise tariffs on China, Beijing could respond with new controls on the export of essential minerals or implement existing controls more strongly,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director at Teneo consulting firm. in a note on Tuesday.

“Chinese regulators can also apply controls selectively, denying minerals to certain foreign companies that are seen as supporting Washington’s technological containment agenda.”

He added that the US Department of Energy has already awarded $151 million in grants to encourage domestic mining and processing of essential minerals, and Western nations are expected to respond to the “calibrated weaponization of critical minerals” from Beijing, by accelerating efforts to reduce dependence on China.