EQ Resources to supply Elmet Technologies with tungsten concentrate in strategic collaboration
September 4, 2024
EQ Resources Limited (EQR), Mount Carbine, Australia, has agreed to a strategic collaboration involving a multi-year offtake agreement with Elmet Technologies LLC, a US-owned and fully integrated tungsten manufacturer headquartered in Lewiston, Maine. Under the agreement, EQR and Elmet will leverage their respective experience and expertise in mining, minerals processing and downstream tungsten manufacturing for the mutual benefit of both parties, working collaboratively to develop and enhance the global tungsten supply chain.
The two companies have agreed a basic framework in which Elmet is to purchase from EQR tungsten concentrate, with an estimated value of AUS $30 million, over a five-year period. Elmet is to secure the offtake allocation through an advance payment of AUS $2.0 million to EQR.
In recognition of the parties’ intent to collaborate and jointly pursue efforts to work on US government programmes and funding opportunities, EQR will grant Elmet 20,000,000 options with an exercise price of AUS $0.10, and an expiry date of 2 years.
EQ Resources Chief Executive Officer, Kevin MacNeill, commented, “We are extremely pleased to extend our industry relations with Elmet Technologies. Through Elmet, we found a partner that shares ambitions with regards to the development of sustainable and resilient supply chains for critical raw materials. EQ Resources’ rapidly growing tungsten mines in Australia and Spain will provide Elmet with the improved industrial resiliency to support their mission critical US defence customers.”
“We trust this strategic collaboration will secure support from end-users in the tungsten space and we plan to continue to develop these types of relationships and alliances, as outlined in our strategy statements. Raw material security has become a top priority, geopolitically and in many board rooms around the world and investing in sustainable mining in Australia and Spain provides a unique market solution,” MacNeill added.
As an expert in tungsten manufacturing, Elmet Technologies is the leading and only 100% US-owned producer of pure tungsten and related tungsten alloys, such as tungsten lanthanum (W-La), potassium doped tungsten (W-K), tungsten rhenium (WRe), and tungsten heavy alloy (WHA). Through unique processes, these materials are pressed, sintered, swaged, and forged into rod, drawn into fine wire, and hot-rolled into plate, sheet and foil, along with several other speciality processes that support the most mission-critical defence, aerospace, medical, industrial, and semiconductor segments.
Elmet Technologies’ Chief Executive Officer, Peter Anania, commented, “This strategic collaboration with EQ Resources provides our tungsten customers in defence, aerospace, medical, and semiconductor with increased supply-chain resiliency, which is aligned with our steadfast support of the US defence industrial base. Over the past five years, Elmet and the US Department of Defense have worked together to improve tungsten industrial base resiliency through special Government programs including the DoD’s Industrial Base and Sustainment (IBAS) office and the ARMY’s MANTECH initiatives.”
“With an increasing focus on critical materials used for defence applications, securing long term access to high quality tungsten concentrate was a strategic imperative for our business. This collaboration with the fastest growing Western tungsten mining group, having active mines in both Australia and Spain, will ensure our ability to support the growing demand for our materials, particularly in the US and Western countries,” concluded Anania.
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