Tungsten
The West's largest tungsten answer arrived with a cost number and a calendar. First metal is 2029.
Tungsten Mining's Mt Mulgine prefeasibility study claims the world's lowest cash cost. The investment decision is six quarters away, and the deficit its own market case describes runs through 2028 and beyond.
America finally found its tungsten. NASA closed a third of the claims.
3 Proton Lithium reported 1.78 million tons of inferred tungsten in Nevada on August 3, five times the next largest US deposit. A 2023 land order reserved 22,684 acres for satellite calibration.
Tungsten's Next Chokepoint Is a Gas, and Two Japanese Plants Just Left
The desk tracked tungsten as scrap and as Kazakh ore. The purity chain ends in WF6, the gas that plates AI chip wiring, and its high purity supply is now walking out the door.
Astana wrote the next chapter of the AI minerals trade. Brazil sent nobody.
The U.S. brought Ex-Im, DFC, and 20-plus companies to the Astana Mining Congress this week. A 1.4 million tonne tungsten deal moves to feasibility in H2. Brazil's R$15 billion Sovereign Plan, designed for exactly this moment, was not represented at the table.
Tungsten scrap at 350%. The metal that wires AI chips is being bought in Home Depot parking lots
Chinese buyers are draining US scrap yards for tungsten ahead of a 2027 defense ban. The same metal forms the interconnects inside every AI accelerator.