Strategic & Defense Minerals
Strategic and defense minerals is thinly covered by confirmed data, which rests on two companies: Almonty Industries, a tungsten leader, and Materion, an enabler in advanced materials. Almonty has recently cleared two milestones: operating certification for Phase I of its Sangdong processing plant and a take-or-pay tungsten offtake with a Sandvik Group subsidiary. Materion's confirmed material shows competitive positioning and tariff and geopolitical cost exposure, with no recent activity. Large government-backed capacity announcements are reported externally and are not yet confirmed. The confirmed dossier does not address gallium, germanium, antimony, titanium or beryllium supply directly.
Active institutional funds added a net $180.5 million in Q2 2026, versus $311.9 million in Q1 2026. 40% of companies in this sub-theme saw increased active positions in Q2 2026.
Overview
Strategic and defense minerals covers the mining, processing and refining of minerals that defense, semiconductor and industrial supply chains depend on outside the battery chain, such as antimony, tungsten, gallium, germanium, titanium and beryllium. It includes domestic and allied supply built to replace Chinese exports. Value sits at several points: primary mining of deposits, processing and refining into usable forms, and downstream materials businesses that turn these inputs into alloys, coatings, optics and additive-manufacturing feedstocks. Battery metals, rare earths and diversified miners without strategically material exposure are outside the sub-theme. In this dossier, Almonty represents primary tungsten mining and processing, and Materion represents the materials-engineering layer.
Investment Thesis
Investment thesis details are part of the Pro plan.
Bottleneck Tracker
Bottleneck details are part of the Pro plan.
Key Companies
Related Events
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Tungsten is the hardest natural metal and is irreplaceable in armor-piercing munitions, cutting tools, and aerospace components, making this supply shock structurally significant for both defense and industrial supply chains. China controls approximately 80% of global tungsten production, and wartime depletion of non-Chinese stockpiles creates a durable structural dependency risk for Western defense industries. Defense manufacturers will face higher input costs and potential production constraints for precision munitions at exactly the moment demand is surging due to active conflicts. Industrial manufacturers using tungsten carbide cutting tools face cost inflation that cannot be quickly substituted. Western governments will likely accelerate investment in domestic tungsten mining and processing, benefiting the small number of non-Chinese producers globally.
The U.S. government is using federal lending power to lock in a domestic antimony supply chain, a mineral for which China currently dominates global production. This structurally disadvantages Chinese antimony exporters and firms dependent on imported antimony, while benefiting Perpetua and downstream U.S. defense and battery manufacturers. The loan signals durable policy commitment to critical mineral onshoring, likely attracting further investment into domestic mining of strategic materials. Defense and munitions supply chains reliant on antimony-based components gain long-term supply security. Rival critical mineral projects in allied nations may also benefit as the U.S. strategy of diversifying away from Chinese suppliers accelerates.