Tungsten mining company EQ Resources has secured five long-term offtake agreements for tungsten production from its operations in Australia and Spain.
These contracts, covering the next 24 months, are valued at an estimated $124m (A$197.18m) and involve 470 containers, each containing 20 tonnes of 50% tungsten trioxide (WO3) concentrate.
The agreements have been signed with undisclosed international tungsten consumers through the company’s marketing partner, CRONIMET, and are considered “significant” amidst China’s export restrictions.
The counterparties are producers of tungsten and tungsten-related products specialising in ammonium paratungstate (APT), tungsten oxide and tungsten carbide materials, which are currently affected by China’s export restrictions.
These agreements were either renewals of previous terms or newly signed. Approximately 25% of the production will be supplied to Europe, another 25% to North America and the remainder to Asia.
EQ Resources CEO Kevin MacNeill said: “EQR’s global operations represent a significant part of the Western supply of tungsten concentrate. The recent move by China to more closely regulate the export of tungsten products has certainly triggered more interest in locking in the volume supply of tungsten raw materials.
“We are pleased that we supply major Western producers on a long-term basis, while at the same time exploring ways to add value to our concentrate through the integration of downstream processing capacity.”
Each contract includes an advance payment clause, with final milestones expected to be reached by the end of the second quarter of the calendar year 2025.
These offtake agreements provide EQ Resources with sales and revenue certainty.
In November 2024, EQ Resources entered a binding heads of agreement to acquire the entire share capital of Tungsten Metals Group (TMG) and its subsidiaries in Vietnam.
TMG owns the largest ferrotungsten smelter outside China with a capacity of 4,000 tonnes per annum.
EQ Resources’ production forecasts are set to meet the demands of these contracts and support the operations of the TMG ferrotungsten smelter.
