Ex-China Tungsten Supply Runs 21,000 Tonnes Short as 2027 Ban Nears

News Provided by Market Updates on behalf of Western Star Resources Inc.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market Updates News Commentary - S&P Global estimates that tungsten mines outside China will deliver about 22,000 tonnes of contained WO3 in 2026, leaving a gap of roughly 21,000 tonnes against demand in those markets. The price signal arrived first: S&P, citing LSEG data, puts the delivered price of ammonium paratungstate (APT) at $83 per kilogram of WO3 in January and $340 in July, more than a fourfold increase in roughly six months. The supply response is slower, because much of what the West can realistically mine again sits in districts that were last worked when Washington was buying tungsten for war. Companies mentioned in today’s commentary include: Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2), Almonty Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ALM), Guardian Metal Resources plc (NYSE American: GMTL), Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT), MSC Industrial Supply Co. (NYSE: MSM).

Key Takeaways

• S&P Global estimates ex-China tungsten mine output of about 22,000 tonnes of WO3 in 2026, leaving a supply gap of roughly 21,000 tonnes outside China.
• From January 1, 2027, U.S. defense procurement rules restrict tungsten from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, raising the value of traceable, non-Chinese supply.
• Western Star Resources reported the first modern assays from its Eagle Point Tungsten Project in New Mexico: 14 of 23 surface samples above 0.10% WO3, grab samples up to 0.55% WO3 and a 13.1-foot channel averaging 0.11% WO3.
• The Company plans a 17-hole, approximately 6,070-foot drill program that it believes will be the first drilling at Eagle Point in more than 70 years.
• Across the chain, Almonty restarted production at Sangdong for the first time since 1993, Guardian Metal reported 92.0 metres at 0.34% WO3 at Tempiute, and toolmakers Kennametal and MSC continue to pass tungsten costs through to customers.
  
  

A Price Signal Still Looking for Mines

The structure of the market explains the gap. In its August 2026 Tungsten Market Report, S&P Global puts China at about 79% of global tungsten mining capacity and roughly 85% of APT refining capacity. In 2025, mining capacity outside China covered only about 37% of demand in those markets, and S&P estimates that scrap already supplies around 60% of the feed for ex-China refineries. Eleven announced projects could add nearly 20,000 tonnes of mine capacity outside China by 2030, but S&P describes that pipeline as an unrisked projection and notes that meeting it would require ex-China mine capacity to more than double within two years.

Policy is now writing the demand side of that equation. From January 1, 2027, DFARS 252.225-7052 restricts U.S. defense procurement of tungsten from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, a restriction that reaches back to the mining stage. A Bureau of Industry and Security temporary final rule, in effect from August 27, 2026 through August 27, 2027, requires U.S. sellers of tungsten waste and scrap to allocate 100% of monthly sales to domestic buyers. Pricing infrastructure is following: Platts has proposed new tungsten concentrate and APT assessments on a CIF U.S. ports basis, effective November 30, 2026, covering material sourced from origins outside China.

The cost is visible on factory floors. Cemented carbides account for nearly two-thirds of global tungsten demand, according to S&P, and U.S. cutting tool shipments totaled $278.1 million in July 2026, up 29% from July 2025, according to the Cutting Tool Market Report published by AMT and the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute. Those are the buyers now paying more for a metal the United States has not mined at scale in more than a decade.

Old Workings, First Modern Numbers

Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2) has reported the first modern assays from its Eagle Point Tungsten Project in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, a property whose only recorded production was shipped during the Second World War. Fourteen of 23 surface samples returned more than 0.10% WO3, including grab samples of up to 0.55% WO3, from scheelite-bearing skarn that 2026 mapping has intermittently traced along approximately 2,600 feet of the limestone-granite contact. Tungsten was detected in every sample, and 21 of the 23 exceeded 100 ppm W.

A continuous channel, CH1, returned 0.11% WO3 over 13.1 feet, including 0.18% WO3 over 3.3 feet, with an estimated true width of approximately 12.5 feet for the sampled interval. Historical trench grab samples returned up to 0.55% WO3 in Trench 5, 0.33% WO3 in Trench 4 and 0.28% WO3 in Trench 6, while outcrop grabs returned up to 0.35% WO3. The Company cautions that grab and stockpile samples are selective by nature and are not indicative of the grade or width of mineralization.

Blake Morgan, CEO and President of Western Star, stated, “These are encouraging first results from Eagle Point. We detected tungsten in every sample we collected, and the strongest results cluster in Trenches 4, 5 and 6 near the granite contact. That gives us clear targets for our 17-hole drill program, which we believe will be the first drilling at Eagle Point in more than 70 years. Tungsten supply has become a national-security priority for the United States and we believe domestic deposits like Eagle Point have an important role to play.”

Tungsten at Eagle Point occurs as scheelite in garnet-epidote-quartz skarn developed along the contact between the Horquilla Limestone and intrusive granite. Measured surface widths run from 13 to 18 feet, with steep dips averaging approximately 85 degrees, and samples collected to date cover approximately 1,680 feet of the mapped contact, with extensive talus cover obscuring portions of it. The highest values came from the three trenches closest to the granite. Tungsten also correlates positively with niobium, tantalum and rubidium, which the Company interprets as possibly reflecting increasing tungsten toward the intrusive contact, an interpretation it describes as preliminary and to be tested by drilling. Shortwave ultraviolet examination confirmed blue-white fluorescent scheelite, and molybdenum, which historical reports describe at Eagle Point, will be added in follow-up multi-element analysis.

The history is part of the story. Scheelite was discovered at Eagle Point in 1940, and the U.S. Bureau of Mines and U.S. Geological Survey examined the property repeatedly between 1942 and 1957. The only recorded production, approximately 650 to 665 short tons grading approximately 0.44% WO3, was mined from an open cut and shipped in 1943 and 1944. In 1955, the U.S. Government drafted and signed a Defense Minerals Exploration Administration contract agreeing to fund 75% of a program of shaft sinking and diamond drilling on the property, but the contract was never executed and the drilling was never carried out. No work has been conducted on the property since 1957. These historical figures have not been verified by the Qualified Person and are not a current Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve.

Western Star will now integrate the 2026 results into its Leapfrog Geo model to finalize collar locations for a program of shallow, closely spaced holes testing the steeply dipping skarn contact beneath surface exposures and talus cover. Historical diamond-drill logs indicate that the host limestone overlies granite at a depth of approximately 200 to 300 feet, and planned hole depths reflect that constraint, although those historical data have not been verified by the Qualified Person. The Company is advancing drilling logistics and permitting. Samples were analysed by ALS Geochemistry in Tucson, Arizona, using a lithium borate fusion ICP-MS method, with the certificate finalized September 25, 2026.

Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2) is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and advancement of mineral properties, with a growing strategic emphasis on tungsten and critical minerals in the United States. The Company is advancing a portfolio of past-producing tungsten assets in Nevada and New Mexico while maintaining additional exploration exposure through its Western Star property in British Columbia.

There are several risks associated with the Company’s plans. Eagle Point is an early-stage exploration property, no Mineral Resource has been established there, and there is no certainty that drilling will result in one. The 2026 results come from a reconnaissance-scale program of 23 samples in which no independent field standards, blanks or duplicates were inserted, most results are from selective grab samples, and molybdenum has not yet been analysed. The drill program has not commenced and remains subject to permitting, logistics and financing, and shares of junior exploration companies can be highly volatile. Readers should review the Company’s continuous disclosure documents on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and the forward-looking information in the Company’s news release.

CONTINUED... Read this and more news for Western Star Resources Inc. at: Market Updates

Producers, Developers and Buyers

Almonty Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ALM) recently marked the first tungsten produced at its Sangdong Mine in South Korea since 1993. The milestone follows the receipt of mining facility inspection certificates for the processing plant and crushing facilities in September, the final administrative requirement before commercial processing and sale of concentrate. S&P Global expects Sangdong to produce roughly 2,300 tonnes of tungsten concentrate under Phase I, and about 90% of that Phase I output is committed for 21 years under Almonty’s amended offtake agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders, a member of Austria’s Plansee Group.

“Thirty-three years. That is how long it has been since tungsten was last produced at Sangdong,” said Lewis Black, President and CEO of Almonty. “Sangdong is producing tungsten again.” In a subsequent shareholder letter, the company pointed to the launch of Phase II development at Sangdong alongside its expansion across Europe and Rwanda. Sangdong is a reminder of the timeline this sector works on: the mine had been dormant for three decades before restarting.

Guardian Metal Resources plc (NYSE American: GMTL), a Nevada tungsten developer, reported on September 21 that Phase II drilling at its Tempiute project, a historically producing scheelite skarn district, intersected 92.0 metres at 0.34% WO3 from 102.5 metres in hole TP26-046, including 12.7 metres at 0.53% WO3. The company also completed its 41-hole Phase I regional program, which it says demonstrated tungsten-skarn mineralization outside the historically mined zones, and said the results support an accelerated decision on rehabilitating the historical underground workings.

“The 92.0 meter intersection at 0.34% WO₃ is particularly encouraging and reinforces our confidence in advancing the South Thumb and Schofield areas toward a planned initial Mineral Resource estimate,” said Oliver Friesen, CEO of Guardian Metal. No Mineral Resource has yet been estimated at Tempiute. Earlier in September, Guardian also signed a collaboration agreement with Oritain Global to build a database of origin fingerprints for tungsten, citing the tighter traceability requirements expected under the 2027 procurement rules.

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT), a major tungsten carbide toolmaker, reported fourth quarter fiscal 2026 sales of $737 million, up 43% year over year, record adjusted EPS of $2.96 and fiscal 2026 sales of $2.36 billion, up 20%. The same release shows what the price spike costs a buyer: fiscal 2026 operating cash flow was negative $4 million, compared with positive $208 million a year earlier, driven primarily by inventory values inflated by unprecedented tungsten price increases and advance payments to suppliers to secure raw material. The company guided fiscal 2027 sales to $3.33 billion to $3.45 billion.

“We achieved record adjusted EPS this quarter through decisive pricing actions in an unprecedented tungsten environment, volume growth and cost improvement efforts,” said Sanjay Chowbey, President and CEO. On September 15, Kennametal also introduced KAF82, an additive manufacturing tungsten carbide grade for custom hole-finishing tools that the company says requires less tungsten than conventionally manufactured tools.

MSC Industrial Supply Co. (NYSE: MSM), a North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations products, reported fiscal 2026 third quarter net sales of $1,047.1 million, up 7.8%, with diluted EPS of $1.44 compared with $1.02 a year earlier. “Average daily sales exceeded the high-end of our outlook with year-over-year improvement of 7.8% driven by benefits from price and volumes returning to growth in the quarter,” said Greg Clark, Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer.

According to published accounts of the company’s remarks, President and CEO Martina McIsaac has described tungsten as the biggest single driver of supplier price increases on carbide tooling, and said in September that the cost pressure was not yet behind the industry. MSC guided fiscal fourth quarter average daily sales growth of 6.5% to 8.5% and is scheduled to report full-year results on October 22, 2026.

What to Watch

For Western Star, the next markers are the finalized collar locations for the 17-hole Eagle Point program, progress on drilling logistics and permitting, and the follow-up multi-element and whole-rock analysis that will add molybdenum to the dataset. Across the sector, the Platts CIF U.S. ports assessments are proposed to begin on November 30, the DFARS restriction takes effect on January 1, 2027, Guardian Metal is working toward underground access and an initial resource at Tempiute, and Almonty is ramping Sangdong through Phase I. On the buyer side, MSC’s October 22 report will show whether tungsten-driven price increases are still working through the industrial supply chain.

Understand Any Stock in 30 Seconds

Weighing a sector this busy means piecing together prices, financials, news and analyst views across a dozen tabs. Luxor IQ by Quote Daddy does that in one step. Enter a U.S. ticker and it turns live prices, a year of trend data, fundamentals, news and analyst ratings into a clear research note written by AI, covering valuation, financial health and key risks. You can run three reports a day free on the web or in the Quote Daddy app. Try it at ai.quotedaddy.com.

Article Source: Western Star Resources Inc. news release dated October 7, 2026.

Contact Information:
Market Updates
Media Contact: info@marketupdates.com

DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this publication should be considered as personalized financial advice. We are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular financial situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. This is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are thus neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The content in this report or email is not provided to any individual with a view toward their individual circumstances.

This article is being distributed by Market Updates, which is wholly owned and operated by Market Equities Limited (“MEL”), a company incorporated under the laws of Ireland. MEL has been paid a fee directly by Western Star Resources Inc. for Western Star Resources Inc. advertising and digital media services. MEL and Western Star Resources Inc. are parties to an Investor Awareness Agreement dated September 11, 2026, under which MEL provides branding, communications, advisory and general consulting services, including SEO, digital media campaigns, media consulting, business development, multimedia and project management, together with weekly ticker tag articles and news-based tags, for a fee of US$100,000 over an initial two-month term upon acceptance by the Canadian Securities Exchange, renewable at the end of the initial term. MEL also expects to receive further compensation as part of an ongoing digital media effort to increase visibility for the company. No further notice will be given, but let this disclaimer serve as notice that all material, including this article, has been reviewed and approved by Western Star Resources Inc.

This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged to not use this publication as the basis for any investment decision.

MEL and Western Star Resources Inc. are not related parties and operate at arm’s length. Neither MEL nor its principals have any interest in the Company’s securities, directly or indirectly, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest. There may be third parties who hold shares of Western Star Resources Inc. and may liquidate their shares, which could have a negative effect on the price of the stock.

While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in this publication is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between any predictions and actual results. Always consult a licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful: investing in securities carries a high degree of risk, and you may lose some or all of your investment.

References to Almonty Industries Inc., Guardian Metal Resources plc, Kennametal Inc. and MSC Industrial Supply Co. are provided solely as market and sector context. Those companies are not peers, competitors, or financial comparables of Western Star Resources Inc., none of them is involved in this article, and their results, production, drilling results, valuations and development milestones are not indicative of Western Star Resources Inc.’s prospects. No partnership, affiliation, or endorsement is implied. Supply, demand and price figures cited are third-party estimates and assessments that vary by source, product, specification, location and date, describe the tungsten market as a whole, and do not represent production or revenue attributable to any company named in this article. The Platts assessments referenced are proposed and had not been published as of the date of this article.

Cautionary Note Regarding Exploration Results. Eagle Point is an early-stage exploration property. Western Star Resources Inc. has not defined any Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve at Eagle Point, and there is no certainty that further exploration will result in the delineation of a Mineral Resource. Grab and stockpile samples are selective by nature, are not representative of mineralization on the property, and are not indicative of the grade or width of mineralization; stockpile samples are not in situ and their original source location cannot be confirmed. Channel results are reported as sampled lengths, and the estimated true width cited is the Company’s estimate. Given the reconnaissance-scale nature of the program, no independent field standards, blanks or duplicates were inserted into the sample stream, and the Company relied on the laboratory’s internal QA/QC procedures. Molybdenum was not included in the analytical package, the mineralogy and recoverability of the tin reported are unknown, and the Company’s interpretation of element correlations is preliminary. Historical production, historical drill logs and other historical information referenced in this article pre-date modern reporting standards, have not been verified by the Qualified Person, are not a current Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve, and should not be relied upon or aggregated with the 2026 results. The 1955 Defense Minerals Exploration Administration contract referenced was never executed, and its existence is not evidence of mineralization. The planned drill program has not commenced, remains subject to permitting, logistics and financing, and may change. Drilling results of other companies referenced in this article are core lengths that may not represent true widths and are not indicative of results at any Western Star Resources Inc. property. The scientific and technical information about Eagle Point in this article is derived from the Company’s news release dated October 7, 2026, in which, according to the Company, that information was reviewed and approved by Jacob Anderson, CPG (#12160), MAusIMM (#3089445), a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who is independent of the Company. The Qualified Person has not reviewed or approved this article. Additional information is available in the Company’s filings on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this article.

Quote Daddy Disclosure. Quote Daddy, including its Luxor IQ research tool, is a stock-tracking application affiliated with the publisher of this article, and this reference constitutes promotion of an affiliated product. Quote Daddy is not a broker-dealer, and nothing in the application or in this article is financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Market data provided in the application is for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Any in-app commentary or briefing content is educational only. Luxor IQ reports are generated by artificial intelligence, may contain errors, and are for informational and educational purposes only. Always do your own research before making any investment decision.

Forward-Looking Statements: This publication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as “may”, “future”, “plan” or “planned”, “will” or “should”, “expected”, “anticipates”, “draft”, “eventually” or “projected”. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company’s continuous disclosure filings, including filings on SEDAR+ and, where applicable, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this publication are made as of the date hereof and MEL undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

SOURCE Market Updates