great find binbin - lots of material here.
Just a few of my comments below in response to quotes (italics & red) from the article
“Tungsten has everything we want in a commodity thesis:
- Multiple accelerating demand drivers
- Bombed-out sentiment
- Lack of new supply
- Potential for massive supply/demand imbalance ”
Is it possible that all theabove ingredients are coming together to demonstrate exactly how criticaltungsten actually is to us all ?
3 current major uses oftungsten
1.Military
2.Semiconductors/Robotics
3.EVs
Whilst the military use oftungsten has been the case for many years, robotics and EV’s are primarily a 21stcentury newcomer – and a big use indeed.
“ War is great fortungsten demand. So great that tungsten prices increased by 700% during World War I. “
“Almonty Industries (AII) published a few examples of recent military tungstenapplications in its October investor presentation:
- Poland ordered 116x M1A1 Abrams tanks with tungsten armor (deliverable end 2024) + further 250 Abrams tanks (deliverable 2025/2026)
- Romania and other countries also expressed their interest in Abrams tank
- France increased the military budget by 40% for this decade
- Australia announced biggest military budget in decades
- Japan has recently unveiled an ambitious military build-up, renowned as the most significant since World War II, commonly referred to as “rearmament”
- China increased their military budget by 7% and is working to become the leader in hypersonic projectiles
Allof these things point to greater tungsten demand. “
The most interesting aspect of the above list of defense spending is theimmediacy – starting in this very calendar year.
“ Batterymanufacturers and auto OEMs are testing niobium tungsten oxide as a way toreduce charge times and increase power density within EV batteries. Ifsuccessful, it would increase the required tungsten by 1kg to 2.5kg per EV vehicle. “
Nyobolt EV batteries likely to increase tungsten useby 70% - Wow ! That’s one single use alone
The supply/demand model;
This is a genuine concern for the market as a whole BUT great for EQR asa producer in 2 hemispheres (and growing).
As a footnote - I am very sceptical about Almonty's ability to get Sandong up and running - they have environmental and financial issues and the start date keeps on getting pushed out and out
