Tungsten Gave Back Most of Its 2026 Rally. The Pentagon’s January Deadline Stayed Put.

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

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market Updates News Commentary - Prices for major tungsten products have dropped by nearly 70% from their historical highs over the past seven months, retreating to levels last seen in late November 2025, according to China Tungsten Online. The rule that turned tungsten into a defense priority has not moved with them. From January 1, 2027, about 73 days away, U.S. defense contractors may not deliver covered tungsten products that were mined, refined, separated, melted or produced in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran. A cheaper metal does nothing to shorten that list, and in Nevada, the drill programs aimed at domestic supply are still being lined up. Companies mentioned in today’s commentary include: Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2), Almonty Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ALM), The Elmet Group Co. (NASDAQ: ELMT), Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT), Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ: PPTA).

Key Takeaways

• Ammonium paratungstate (APT) in China traded around 470,000 yuan per tonne in mid-October, down roughly 69% from its mid-March high, according to Shanghai Metals Market.
• The U.S. defense sourcing restriction on tungsten from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran reaches back to the mining stage from January 1, 2027, regardless of price.
• Western Star Resources defined two priority drill targets and a planned four-hole, approximately 1,950-foot program at its White Star Tungsten Project, bringing its planned 2026 Nevada program to 10 holes and approximately 5,000 feet.
• Outside China, Almonty’s Sangdong mine in South Korea produced its first tungsten in 33 years, and the Department of War committed $450 million to The Elmet Group, including about $150 million for a Nevada APT complex.
• On the buyer side, Kennametal guided fiscal 2027 sales to $3.33 billion to $3.45 billion and reports on November 4, while Perpetua keeps finding scheelite in core at its Idaho project.

A Cheaper Metal, the Same Rulebook

The pullback has been steep. Shanghai Metals Market put Chinese APT at 470,000 yuan per tonne on October 15, about 69% below its mid-March peak, and China Tungsten Online blamed weak demand from cemented carbide makers, smelters cutting output after costs rose above selling prices, and cautious buying across the chain. On October 19, Shanghai Metals Market reported that several large tungsten producers had begun buying in the market again and that some holders were raising offers.

None of that changes the structure of supply. China said in December 2025 that only 15 companies would be allowed to export tungsten in 2026 and 2027, Reuters reported, and the U.S. Geological Survey says tungsten has not been mined commercially in the United States since 2015. The DFARS clause that takes full effect on January 1, 2027 covers tungsten metal powder, tungsten heavy alloy and components that contain them, and for tungsten it starts at the mining or production of ore or feedstock, including recycled material. For defense supply chains, the question is where the tungsten came from, not what it cost.

Ten Holes, Two Properties, One Campaign

Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2) announced on October 20 the priority drill targets and a planned four-hole, approximately 1,950-foot (594-metre) drill program for its 100% owned White Star Tungsten Project, approximately 4 kilometres south of its Rowland Tungsten Property in Elko County, Nevada. Together with the six holes planned at Rowland, the Company’s planned 2026 Nevada drill program now comprises 10 holes totalling approximately 5,000 feet (1,524 metres) from seven drill pads across the two properties. White Star is the third project in the Company’s U.S. tungsten portfolio to reach the drill-target stage in 2026.

• Two priority targets, the North Zone and the South Zone, are the two tungsten-in-soil anomalies defined by the 2026 Phase 2 soil program.
• North Zone (two holes, 1,000 feet): holes test beneath rock-chip sample WS-16-01 (0.126% WO₃) and beneath the southern part of the soil anomaly, which is developed across the quartz monzonite to tactite contact mapped by Coats (1964).
• South Zone (two holes, 950 feet): holes test beneath soil sample B206 (2,230 ppm W; 0.28% WO₃), the highest value returned at White Star, and the adjacent anomalous samples B205 and B203.
• All three planned drill pads are sited on existing disturbance. Hole locations are preliminary and subject to adjustment pending field verification and permitting.
• The Plan of Operations for the U.S. Forest Service and the Nevada Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation reclamation permit are advancing in parallel, with the objective of drilling Rowland and White Star as a single campaign.

The targets were built with the same integrated approach the Company used at Rowland: the maiden White Star field program, a UAV magnetic survey and three-dimensional magnetic inversion completed by East Coast Consulting, and the rock-chip and soil assay results. At the North Zone, hole WST26-01 is planned to drill steeply beneath a rehabilitated historical pit and reach the margin of a weakly magnetic body modelled at approximately 136 metres down-hole. At the South Zone, both holes are planned from a single pad, and WST26-03 passes beneath an interpreted magnetic-low lineament at approximately 120 metres down-hole. The Company notes that no new assay results are reported in the release.

Blake Morgan, CEO and President of Western Star, stated, “Following our Rowland announcement, White Star moves into the drill-target stage on the back of the same integrated field season. The Batholith Mine is the only documented historical tungsten producer in the Charleston Mining District, and our maiden program has built a modern dataset around it for the first time. With both Rowland and White Star now ready for drill testing, the consolidated Jarbidge–Charleston tungsten footprint can move into the drill program as a single, district-scale campaign of ten holes and approximately 5,000 feet.”

The Plan of Operations is being prepared by KC Harvey Environmental. White Star joins Rowland, where the Company outlined six holes and approximately 3,050 feet on October 13, and Eagle Point in New Mexico, where it has outlined a 17-hole, approximately 6,070-foot program.

CONTINUED... Read this and more news for Western Star Resources Inc. at: https://americannewsgroup.com/pages/western-star/

Supply Outside China, and the Buyers Who Need It

Almonty Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ALM) received final operational certification for its Sangdong processing plant in South Korea on September 22, clearing Phase I to sell concentrate into South Korea and export markets. A week later, the company’s shareholder letter described the first bags of tungsten concentrate at Sangdong, ready for export, as the first tungsten produced there in thirty-three years. Almonty said Phase II is expected to be completed in 2027, lifting capacity to up to 1.2 million tonnes per annum, and it held an investor day on October 19.

“Sangdong now has the clearance it needs to commercially operate its processing plant and to sell what that plant produces,” said Lewis Black, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Almonty.

The Elmet Group Co. (NASDAQ: ELMT) announced on September 14 that the Department of War made a $450 million committed investment in the company, with an initial $200 million drawdown at closing, and that its subsidiary was awarded a Defense Logistics Agency contract with a ceiling of up to $2 billion and a $150 million guaranteed funded commitment for supply to the National Defense Stockpile. About $150 million is earmarked for restarting and expanding APT conversion at the Springer Tungsten Complex in Imlay, Nevada, through a majority-owned joint venture. On September 30, Elmet Technologies added an approximately $36 million DLA contract for molybdenum and tungsten alloys and wire.

“This investment represents an important step toward securing a resilient supply of tungsten, a material that is critical to America’s defense, industrial, and economic future,” said Peter V. Anania, CEO and Chairman of The Elmet Group.

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT), a major tungsten carbide toolmaker, reported fourth quarter fiscal 2026 sales of $737 million, up 43%, and record adjusted EPS of $2.96. It expects first quarter fiscal 2027 sales of $745 million to $775 million and fiscal 2027 sales of $3.33 billion to $3.45 billion, and it will report first quarter results before the market opens on November 4, 2026.

“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.

Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ: PPTA) reported on September 28 that exploration drilling at its Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho passed 10,000 metres in August, including five holes totalling 1,900 metres at the Clark Tunnel Fault Zone, and that the presence of scheelite, a tungsten-bearing mineral, continues to be observed in subsequent drill core. Construction advanced on the Burntlog Route, foundations began for worker housing, and substations and transformers have been ordered for its transmission line infrastructure.

“We continue to make progress on multiple fronts, including construction of Burntlog Route and worker housing, development of transmission line infrastructure, and expanding our drill program,” said Jon Cherry, President and CEO of Perpetua Resources.

What to Watch

For Western Star, the next markers are submission of the White Star and Rowland Plan of Operations to the U.S. Forest Service, the Nevada reclamation permit, and final collar locations after field verification. Across the sector, Kennametal reports on November 4, Almonty is moving Sangdong from first concentrate toward Phase II, and the January 1, 2027 sourcing restriction arrives whether tungsten prices recover or not.

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Article Source: Western Star Resources Inc. news release dated October 20, 2026.

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