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简体中文 Tungsten resources are core strategic mineral materials widely used in high-end fields such as new energy vehicles, aerospace and semiconductors. The market price of tungsten powder has risen sharply from 316 yuan per kilogram at the beginning of 2025 to 1400 yuan per kilogram in January 2026. The complete industrial chain from underground raw ore to high-purity Ammonium Paratungstate (APT) fully reflects China’s resource advantages and technological breakthroughs in the field of key mineral materials.
Global Distribution of Tungsten Resources
The distribution of tungsten resources on the earth is extremely uneven, with a prominent feature of concentrated supply in China. In terms of global reserves, China holds about 1.9 million tons of tungsten metal, accounting for 58% of the world’s total reserves, ranking as the well-deserved kingdom of tungsten resources. Russia has a reserve of about 400,000 tons, accounting for 12% of the global total. Vietnam’s reserve is about 95,000 tons, taking up 3%. Other countries including Canada, Bolivia, Austria and Portugal jointly account for less than 30% of global reserves.
Global tungsten output shows a higher concentration. China’s tungsten concentrate output steadily occupies more than 80% of the global market share, enabling the country to hold absolute pricing power over the international tungsten market.
Regional Distribution of Tungsten Resources in China
China’s mineral resources present a typical distribution feature of tungsten in the south and molybdenum in the north. Tungsten resources are mainly concentrated in five provinces and autonomous regions: Jiangxi, Hunan, Henan, Fujian and Guangxi, forming a differentiated and systematic domestic resource layout.
Jiangxi Province
Geographical location: Located on the south bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in East China, it is a core mineral gathering area in southern China.
As the most important tungsten resource enrichment area at home and abroad, Jiangxi’s tungsten resources are mainly distributed in the southern Jiangxi tungsten belt covering Dayu, Chongyi, Quannan and Longnan. The local resources are dominated by wolframite, accounting for 40% of China’s total tungsten reserves, making it the core production area of global wolframite. It owns a number of benchmark mines such as Xihua Mountain Tungsten Mine, Piaotang Tungsten Mine and Taoxikeng Tungsten Mine.
Hunan Province
Geographical location: Situated in the hinterland of the middle Yangtze River in central South China, it belongs to the core metallogenic zone of polymetallic minerals in southern China.
Hunan is a key base for scheelite and polymetallic associated tungsten resources in China. Mineral areas are mainly distributed from Chenzhou to Hengyang. The local tungsten resources are mainly scheelite, associated with molybdenum, bismuth and other metals to form complex polymetallic deposits. It hosts the world-class super-large Shizhuyuan Polymetallic Mine and serves as a core application area for complex tungsten ore beneficiation technology in China.
Henan Province
Geographical location: Located in the hinterland of central China and south of the Yellow River, it is a rare large non-ferrous metal enrichment area in northern China.
Henan is a core scheelite resource hub in northern China, with mineral resources concentrated in Luanchuan and Songxian areas. Dominated by scheelite, it is an emerging major tungsten resource base in China with top-ranking reserves in Asia. The representative Sandaozhuang Tungsten-Molybdenum Mine is the largest scheelite mine in Asia.
Fujian Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Geographical location: Covering the coastal areas of southeast China and the border areas of southwest China, they are auxiliary core producing areas of domestic tungsten resources.
Fujian and Guangxi are important supplementary suppliers of China’s tungsten resources. Their main mining areas produce scheelite associated with a large number of tin minerals, forming complex associated tungsten deposits. The Luokeng Tungsten Mine in Fujian and Dachang Tin Polymetallic Mine in Guangxi are typical local mines, providing stable supplementary supply for China’s tungsten industry.
Leading Enterprises in China’s Tungsten Industry
China Minmetals Corporation (Minmetals Nonferrous Metals)
Status: China’s largest tungsten enterprise, controlling about 30% of the country’s total production capacity
APT Annual Capacity: About 30,000 tons
The enterprise holds high-quality core assets including Jiangxi Tungsten Industry Group, Xihua Mountain Tungsten Mine, Piaotang Tungsten Mine and Shizhuyuan Mine in Hunan. It covers the whole industrial chain from mining and APT smelting to deep processing of tungsten materials. With huge industrial scale and strong resource control capability, it acts as the core pillar supporting the stable operation of China’s tungsten industry.
Xiamen Tungsten
Status: One of the world’s largest tungsten smelting enterprises and the leading listed company in China’s tungsten industry
APT Annual Capacity: 25,000 tons
The enterprise owns top-level smelting technology and advanced domestic ion-exchange APT production lines with mature processes and stable product purity. Relying on large-scale APT production capacity, it extends its business to downstream deep processing fields such as cemented carbide and high-end tungsten materials, maintaining a leading comprehensive competitiveness in the industry.
Zhangyuan Tungsten
Status: Representative private tungsten enterprise in Ganzhou, Jiangxi
APT Annual Capacity: 12,000 tons
Endowed with high-quality wolframite resources such as Xialong Tungsten Mine, the enterprise focuses on refined and high-end development. It avoids low-end homogeneous competition and specializes in the research, development and production of mid-to-high-end APT and fine tungsten powder, deeply cultivating high-end market segments.
Xianglu Tungsten
Status: Leading tungsten enterprise in Guangdong Province
APT Annual Capacity: 10,000 tons
The enterprise has unique technical advantages in processing complex tungsten ores. It has rich mature experience in treating difficult-to-process ores with high molybdenum and tin content, with strong process adaptability. It is an important tungsten smelting base in South China.
Jiangxi Tungsten Industry Group
Status: Controlled by Minmetals Nonferrous Metals, serving as the integration platform for tungsten resources in Jiangxi Province
As a regional core resource integrator, the enterprise controls more than 70% of core tungsten resources in southern Jiangxi with prominent resource advantages. It undertakes national strategic functions as an important national strategic tungsten resource reserve base, responsible for coordinating domestic tungsten supply and ensuring industrial security and stable development.
Global Pattern of International Tungsten Industry
Overseas high-quality tungsten production capacity is concentrated in a few leading enterprises in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, serving as an important supplement to the global tungsten supply chain.
Austria’s Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG is the largest and most integrated professional tungsten producer in Europe. It realizes integrated mining, beneficiation and smelting based on local Mittersill scheelite resources. As one of the few enterprises with complete tungsten metallurgy capacity outside Asia, it steadily supplies tungsten raw materials for Europe’s high-end manufacturing industry.
Canada’s Almonty Industries is a world-renowned international tungsten resource operator. It controls the world-class Sangdong Tungsten Mine in South Korea, which features large reserves and high ore quality. As a benchmark tungsten project in the Asia-Pacific region outside China, it provides high-quality tungsten concentrates for the global market and balances the regional supply structure of global tungsten resources.
Vietnam’s Masan Resources is the core tungsten producer and exporter in Southeast Asia. Relying on local superior resource endowments, it focuses on tungsten mining and rough processing. As the most important tungsten raw material supplier in Southeast Asia, its products are exported worldwide, filling the gap of large-scale tungsten industrial supply in Southeast Asia.
Market Development Trend
The global demand for tungsten will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 3% to 5% from 2026 to 2030, supported by the rapid development of emerging high-end manufacturing industries.
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Application Fields
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Key Products
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Growth Drivers
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New Energy Vehicles
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Tungsten-copper alloy contacts, tungsten electrodes
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Popularization of high-voltage fast charging and rapid growth of electrification demand
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Semiconductors
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Tungsten targets, fine tungsten wires
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continuous shrinking of chip process and upgrading of photovoltaic cutting technology
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Luft- und Raumfahrt
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Tungsten alloy counterweights, high-temperature structural parts
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Industrial development of commercial aerospace and iteration of new-generation aero-engines
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Zusammenfassung
With 58% of global tungsten reserves and over 80% of global output, China firmly holds the supply and pricing initiative of global tungsten resources. Five core mining areas in Jiangxi, Hunan, Henan, Fujian and Guangxi form a differentiated domestic resource layout.
Leading domestic enterprises including China Minmetals, Xiamen Tungsten, Zhangyuan Tungsten, Xianglu Tungsten and Jiangxi Tungsten Industry Group dominate the domestic supply chain with advantages in resources, production capacity and technology, and hedge overseas competition through global layout.
With the continuous expansion of emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, semiconductors and aerospace, global tungsten demand will grow steadily from 2026 to 2030. China’s tungsten industry will complete the transformation from resource export to technology and high-end material export.
