A Vietnamese strategic materials company called Masan High-Tech Materials is expanding beyond its mining roots to connect resources, processing capabilities and international partnerships across the global tungsten value chain.

The company explains that global strategic mineral supply chains are being reshaped and competitive advantage is no longer defined by resource ownership alone.

"The ability to combine long-life resources with advanced processing capabilities and an international partner network is becoming increasingly important. For one, tungsten is increasingly viewed as a strategic material rather than simply an industrial metal," Masan notes.

Tungsten is typically used in semiconductors, AI infrastructure, batteries, additive manufacturing and defence systems, however, supply of tungsten is highly concentrated, with China accounting for 82% of global production.

"This concentration is changing how competitive advantage is assessed across the industry. Owning a large mine remains important, but it is no longer sufficient on its own. As global supply chains are reconfigured, the ability to connect resources with processing capabilities and end markets is becoming an increasingly important differentiator," Masan states.

The company owns the Nui Phao polymetallic mine in Vietnam, which is one of the largest operating tungsten mines outside China. It has spent more than a decade building tungsten chemical processing capabilities through Masan Tungsten Chemicals, which has a yearly production capacity of 9 345 t.

This integrated system enables Masan to participate across the value chain from mining to concentrate production and tungsten chemicals such as ammonium paratungstate, yellow tungsten oxide and blue tungsten oxide.

Masan is advancing the addition of more tungsten resources as well as access to external feedstocks for processing.

The company aims to increase tungsten oxide production alone to more than 8 000 t/y and advance circular economy initiatives to be able to recover and reprocess tungsten from end-of-life components.

Having investment more than $700-million in its mining and processing infrastructure, Masan currently accounts for 21% of global tungsten supply outside of China.