Advanced Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the business of shaping hard materials, and the tool must always be harder than the work. Cemented tungsten carbide, a composite of tungsten carbide grains bonded with cobalt or nickel, sits near the top of the hardness scale for engineered materials while retaining enough toughness to survive the shock of an interrupted cut. It keeps that hardness at red heat, where high-speed steel softens, because tungsten itself melts at 3,422 °C, the highest of any metal. Roughly 60 percent of all tungsten consumed worldwide goes into cemented carbide, and most of the rest goes into steels, superalloys, heavy alloys and mill products that serve the same factories. Tungsten is, in a direct sense, the material that manufactures everything else.

Where tungsten is used

Cemented carbide cutting tools

Inserts, end mills, drills, reamers and taps made from cemented carbide perform the vast majority of metal cutting in automotive, aerospace, energy and general engineering. Carbide tools run faster, last longer and hold tighter tolerances than steel tools, and the productivity of a machine shop is largely a function of how well its carbide tooling performs. Coated carbide grades extend that advantage into titanium, nickel alloys and hardened steels.

Wear parts, dies and forming tools

Carbide drawing dies produce the wire in every cable and spring. Carbide punches, stamping dies and cold-forming tools shape fasteners, cans and automotive components by the billion. Carbide rolls, nozzles, seals and guides resist abrasion in steel mills, paper machines and plastics extrusion. In each case the alternative is more frequent downtime and lower precision.

Tungsten heavy alloys

Tungsten heavy alloys, typically 90 to 97 percent tungsten with nickel, iron or copper, are machinable metals with the density of gold. They are used as balance weights in rotating machinery, vibration-damping boring bars that allow deep and precise machining, radiation shielding in industrial radiography, and die-casting and injection-moulding components that need thermal mass.

Welding and electrical

Tungsten electrodes carry the arc in gas tungsten arc welding, the process used wherever weld quality matters most, from pressure vessels to bicycle frames. Tungsten and tungsten-copper contacts handle the arcing in switchgear and resistance-welding electrodes, and tungsten filaments and targets are still used in specialised lighting, X-ray tubes and electron-beam equipment.

Mining and construction wear parts

Carbide-tipped picks, road-milling teeth, tunnel-boring cutters, drill bits and crusher liners allow the construction and mining industries to cut rock, asphalt and concrete at scale. These are consumable parts replaced continuously, which makes them one of the steadiest sources of tungsten demand.

Additive manufacturing powders

Spherical tungsten and tungsten carbide powders are increasingly used in laser and electron-beam additive manufacturing to print collimators, nozzles, shielding and complex tooling that cannot be machined conventionally. As industrial 3D printing scales, it opens new tungsten applications rather than replacing old ones.

Every reshoring announcement, from semiconductor fabs to shipyards, is also an order for cemented carbide. Manufacturing cannot come home without tungsten coming with it.

Why supply is the problem

China produces roughly four-fifths of the world's mined tungsten and an even larger share of ammonium paratungstate, tungsten powder and tungsten carbide powder, the feedstocks that carbide producers everywhere depend on. In February 2025, China introduced export controls on tungsten products. Prices for tungsten concentrate and APT rose steeply through 2025, and carbide tool makers in North America and Europe passed those increases through to their customers.

The United States has had no domestic primary tungsten mine production for several years and imports its primary tungsten, supplemented by scrap recycling. Tungsten is on the U.S. Government's critical minerals list. The FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act restricts tungsten mined or processed in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran from Department of Defense procurement from 2027, which reaches deep into the industrial base because defense contractors source carbide tooling, heavy alloys and welding consumables from the same suppliers as everyone else.

Manufacturing reshoring, infrastructure spending and expanded defense production are all increasing North American tungsten demand at the same time that regulation narrows the permitted sources. Carbide producers can recycle, but recycling cannot cover growth. New primary supply from secure jurisdictions is the only durable answer.

What it means for Gordon

Gordon Mining Group's Tungsten Tail Project is a past-producing scheelite property in Sierra County, New Mexico, on U.S. federal land. Historic shipments were recorded in 1942 and 1955, reported historical grades were in the range of 3 to 4 percent WO3, and earlier operators developed more than 300 metres of underground workings. There is no record of the property ever having been drilled.

Gordon intends to be the first company to drill Tungsten Tail. Scheelite is the preferred feed for many Western tungsten converters, and a domestic source would sit at the start of a supply chain that runs from concentrate through APT and powder to the carbide tools on every factory floor. The project's production history and accessible historic workings give Gordon a defined starting point that is uncommon among early-stage tungsten explorers.

Historical information presented here has not been verified by a Qualified Person and is not a current mineral resource. Systematic exploration, including a first drill programme, is required before any resource estimate can be considered.

Key takeaways

• Roughly 60 percent of tungsten demand goes into cemented carbide, the cutting tools, dies and wear parts that make modern manufacturing possible.
• Heavy alloys, welding electrodes, construction wear parts and 3D-printing powders broaden that demand base.
• China produces roughly four-fifths of global tungsten and imposed export controls in February 2025; the U.S. has no primary mine production.
• Reshoring and defense production growth raise demand just as 2027 procurement restrictions narrow supply.
• Tungsten Tail is a past-producing scheelite property with reported historical grades of 3 to 4 percent WO3 and no recorded drilling; Gordon plans to drill it first. Historical data is unverified and not a current mineral resource.