Written by Peter Kennedy
Restrictions on Chinese exports coupled with rising military spending have sent the price of tungsten soaring in recent months, a move that has launched a race to develop new supplies of the important mineral.
Almonte Industries (TSX-everyoneNasdaq-pain), after a 30-year hiatus, recently resumed production at its Sangdong mine in South Korea, which is expected to produce 2,300 tons of tungsten concentrate annually.
Due to physical properties that include extreme hardness and the highest melting point of any metal, tungsten is a key component in armor-piercing projectiles such as bullets and missiles. It is also used to manufacture drills, saw blades and milling cutters.
But lower stocks due to the war in Ukraine and the Middle East helped push the price of ammonium paratungstate (APT) to US$3,180 per tonne from US$340 per tonne in early 2025.
“This is not just a blip on the horizon,” said Mark Kolibaba, president and CEO. Adamira Metals Company (ADZ-TSXV, DNFF-OTC), a company with tungsten assets in the United States (see details below). He believes high prices are here to stay.
This prompted the United States and its allies to try to find new sources of the metal outside China, which dominates the tungsten market, which represents more than 88% of the global supply. Recently, the US military, through the Defense Industrial Base Association, invited companies to submit proposals to enhance domestic supplies of important minerals, with a clear target for tungsten.
However, industry officials point out that high-quality tungsten deposits are scarce in North America and that timelines for permitting and developing mines worldwide are long.
In December 2024, firewood metals company, (FWZ-TSXV, FWEDF-OTCQB, 20F-FSE) said it has secured $22.5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense and up to $12.9 million from the Government of Canada to support critical minerals projects in McMillan Pass, Yukon. With this financing, Fireweed said it will advance its Mactung Tungsten project to a final investment decision. In a subsequent press release in March 2026, the company said it would launch an updated feasibility study on the 100%-owned Mactung project. A 2023 technical report stated that Maktong’s updated mineral resources were 51.5 million tons, at 0.73% WO3 and 12.2 million tons (inferred) at 0.59% W03. It is estimated that the potential exists for an exploration target at Maktong of between 2.5 million and 3.5 million tons grading between 0.4 and 0.6% W03 over and above the existing mineral resources. The company said these results make it the largest deposit of high-grade tungsten in the world.
American Tungsten Company (Tong-CSE, Tongf-OTCQB, RK90-FSE) is currently conducting an exploration drilling program and evaluating the potential to restart underground tungsten mining operations at the IMA Mine in east-central Idaho. Between 1945 and 1957, the property produced approximately 199,449 tons of W03 units, and was subsequently explored for molybdenum and tungsten by several operators between 1960 and 2010.
The company said the latest drilling results provide continued confidence as it moves methodically to identify a modern, mineable resource. Back in March 2026, the company closed a $40 million private financing purchase deal consisting of 14.3 million units at $2.80 per unit. The net proceeds from the offering are expected to be used to enhance exploration and development operations at the IMA mine.
Adamira Metals Company (ADZ-TSXV, DNFF(OTC) CEO Mark Kolibaba says he believes his company is exploring for the right minerals at exactly the right time.
In an interview with Resource World, Kolibaba said Adamera is one of the very few companies in North America that can indicate the presence of tungsten mineralization on its properties. Back in November 2025, for example, Adamera announced a potential new occurrence of tungsten mineralization at the Talisman Property in Washington state. Rock samples collected up to 720 meters south of the historic Talisman Tungsten Mine showed highly anomalous tungsten values ranging from 110 ppm to 2,600 ppm.
“Previously, Adamera’s exploration efforts at Talisman focused on high-grade copper and silver,” Kolibaba said. “The renewed focus on tungsten, a critically important, federally classified mineral in the United States, adds a valuable dimension to the project.”
Meanwhile, in an April 8, 2026 press release, the company said the results of a detailed geomagnetic survey deployed at the company’s Tungsten Ridge property, also located in Washington state, have significantly expanded the property’s potential tungsten skarn mineralization beyond historic underground mine workings.
“Old projects like Tungsten Ridge and Talisman Tungsten become new opportunities with the introduction of new economics or modern exploration techniques. In this case we have both,” Kolibaba said. “We are applying modern exploration methods to these properties, at a time of severe global supply shortages and unprecedented tungsten prices,” he added. “We are ideally positioned to capitalize on this rare convergence of geological potential and market demand.”
Adamera is developing its two tungsten projects in Washington state in an effort to create a secure, uninterrupted domestic supply to U.S. markets, while also continuing to explore high-value gold, silver and copper deposits in British Columbia. The company recently said it has identified a large-scale gold and copper target at its 100%-owned South Hedley project, which is located between the historic Nickel Plate gold mine and the active Copper Mountain mine in southern British Columbia.
The multi-mineral strategy is led by Kulibaba, who was previously involved in Arctic diamond exploration in Nunavut and Canada’s Northwest Territories, where he worked with BHP Billiton Limited (BHP-NYSE) and legendary diamond explorer Charles Fipke. He was part of the team that discovered the first 120 kimberlites at the Ekati Diamond Mine and was responsible for the initial discovery of the Hope Bay gold deposit in Nunavut.
Exploration for the properties of tungsten is still in its early stages. At Tungsten Ridge, historical exploration has focused almost exclusively on exposed outcrops, leaving vast areas obscured by shallow overburden untested. Adamera’s primary goal now is the systematic development of high-priority drilling targets. It hopes to achieve this through an assessment of the area of known mine workings and a comprehensive soil sampling programme.
In 2025, the company considered selling the Talisman Tungsten property. But due to the shift in the macroeconomic landscape for tungsten, the company instead chose to expand its tungsten holdings. Kolibaba said Talisman can advance quickly because it is close to the company’s infrastructure and operations base in Washington state. “Moving forward, our focus will be on developing both properties quickly, with field work expected to begin in April (2026).”
On April 28, 2026, Adamera shares were trading at 15 cents in a 52-week range of 19 cents and $0.05.
Prepared by Resource World Magazine Inc. This editorial is for general information purposes only and should not be considered a solicitation to buy or sell securities in the companies discussed here. The information provided is derived from sources believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed. This editorial does not take into account readers’ investment criteria, investment experience, financial situation, or financial goals of individual recipients and other concerns such as jurisdictional and/or legal restrictions that may exist for some persons. Recipients should rely on their own due diligence and seek their own professional advice before investing.
