The South Korean Mine at the Center of Americas Tungsten Push

The front line of America’s scramble for critical minerals lies miles beneath the surface in the cavernous tunnels of Sangdong, South Korea, where miners blast glittering seams of tungsten from craggy rock.With the highest melting point of any metal and a hardness close to that of a diamond, tungsten is essential to manufacturing semiconductors, construction and oil-drilling equipment, and the missiles and armored vehicles used in modern warfare.Like many minerals critical to the technologies the world depends on, tungsten is overwhelmingly controlled by China, which produces roughly 85 percent of the global supply.The consequences of that dominance became clear last year when Beijing imposed strict export controls, leading to shortages and sending prices soaring as military demand surged.At the same time, China has sought to tighten its grip on the market, acquiring the mining rights to the world’s largest open-pit tungsten mine in Kazakhstan.

And Chinese buyers are scouring the globe for scrap tungsten....