HOUSTON, September 22 (Argus) - US key materials manufacturer Elmet announced today that it has signed a long-term tungsten concentrate offtake agreement with British tungsten producer Tungsten West.
According to the terms of the agreement, Elmet expects to receive at least 1,000 tons of tungsten concentrate from Tungsten West's Hemerdon tungsten mine in England every year.
The National Wealth Fund (NWF) of the British government stated last month that it will invest up to 71 million pounds (approximately 95 million US dollars) in Tungsten West to support the restart of its Hemerdon tungsten-tin mine project in Devon. Tungsten West aims to achieve full production in the first quarter of 2027.
Elmet plans to process these tungsten concentrates into ammonium tungstate (APT) and other tungsten intermediate products for its manufacturing plants in the United States and Germany.
Previously, the US Department of Defense (DOD) provided Elmet with a total investment of 450 million US dollars to strengthen the US domestic tungsten supply chain capacity, mainly serving defense needs. Approximately one-third of the funds will be used to build an APT factory in Nevada.
Earlier this month, Elmet also stated that the company has received a contract with a maximum value of up to 2 billion US dollars, to supply tungsten ore, tungsten concentrate, and sodium tungstate to the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for the US national strategic defense reserve.
