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Giấy phép số 4978/GP-TTĐT do Sở Thông tin và Truyền thông Hà Nội cấp ngày 14 tháng 10 năm 2019 / Giấy phép SĐ, BS GP ICP số 2107/GP-TTĐT do Sở TTTT Hà Nội cấp ngày 13/7/2022.
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MB Securities Joint Stock Company (MBS) reported its Q1 2026 financial results, becoming one of the first brokerage firms to reveal the three-month performance. Specifically, MBS recorded operating revenue of VND 1,019 billion, up 52% year over year. In the proprietary trading segment, profit from financial assets measured at fair…
Prices hovering near the bottom gave way to a sharp repricing of tungsten risk, as the Nui Phao polymetallic mine—owned by Masan High-Tech Materials (MSR)—moved from being viewed as a profit drag to a potential strategic asset. The shift reflects tightening export controls on key inputs and accelerating defense and technology demand, driving a volatility-led rally in tungsten-linked equities.
Strategic minerals under the Arctic ice cap are increasingly seen not only through an environmental lens but also as inputs for critical technologies and defense manufacturing. In this context, the “resource race” is less about tariffs raising end-product prices and more about forcing industrial plants to idle due to feedstock constraints.
Since October 2025, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued Notices Nos. 61, 62 and 68, tightening exports from rare earths to tungsten and antimony. Products manufactured abroad that contain 0.1% rare earth content from China also require a license. U.S. tech and defense companies have been affected due to dependence on Chinese-linked inputs even when production occurs outside China.
Beyond China, the United States has pursued supply-chain and industrial policy through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Defense Production Act (DPA), including $500 billion for supply-chain programs focused on strategic minerals. The U.S. Department of Defense classifies tungsten, bismuth and fluorite as critical defense materials and has established a mandatory stockpiling program.
To bolster resource security, the U.S. uses four targeted measures: (1) shorten permitting for mining projects from 29 years to less than a month for more than 50 priority projects; (2) inject $100 billion in government loans to three companies; (3) establish a price-floor mechanism to purchase minerals from allied nations; and (4) launch Project Vault, a $12 billion fund to acquire and stockpile minerals.
Several countries have also introduced resource-supply controls:
Arctic and global policy shifts have contributed to a volatility-driven rally in tungsten stocks. A shortage outside China has supported higher prices and a broader upswing in miners’ shares.
The global tungsten picture remains concentrated in China. World production is near 85,000 tW and global reserves around 4.7 million tW, while the United States has historically been the largest consumer (2021). Excluding China, the market faces a serious tungsten-supply shortage.
Demand has grown between 2021 and 2024, particularly in defense and technology sectors that rely on tungsten’s properties for hard materials and high-temperature applications. The surge in defense budgets across major economies has supported higher tungsten demand, including allocations for munitions inventories, missile systems, drones, and related defense-industrial capabilities.
In this environment, MSR’s share performance has been strong: the stock rose about 310% year-to-date in 2025 and about 87% since the start of 2026.
Nui Phao, MSR’s flagship asset, is a polymetallic project (Thái Nguyên) that hosts four strategic products in a single ore body: tungsten, fluorite, bismuth and copper. With a resource base of about 83.2 million tonnes of ore, including phases 1A and 1B, Nui Phao ranks among the largest tungsten deposits outside China.
However, ownership did not automatically translate into easy profits. Nui Phao was previously described as a “thorny rose,” contributing to financial distress for Masan Group and its lenders.
Tiberon Minerals (Canada) discovered Nui Phao in the mid-1990s and secured a license in 2004. In 2007, the project saw a controversial 70% stake sale to Dragon Capital for roughly $225 million. The 2008 global financial crisis then triggered a liquidity squeeze that put the project at risk of losing its license; by the end of 2008, Dragon Capital faced substantial losses, among its largest in Vietnam.
In 2010, Masan—an outsider to mining—acquired Nui Phao in a major M&A move. In 2014, the first tungsten concentrate shipped, marking the emergence of a rare post-1990s mining project on the global map.
MSR reported revenue of VND 14.093 trillion in 2023 and VND 14.336 trillion in 2024, but after-tax losses of VND 1.530 trillion and VND 1.587 trillion, respectively. The losses were driven by heavy interest costs, weak performance at the H.C. Starck (HCS) subsidiary, a low tungsten price environment, and a blasting halt at Nui Phao from April 2023 to March 2024 that increased operating costs.
MSR later divested 100% of HCS to Mitsubishi Materials for $134.5 million at end-2024 and signed an offtake arrangement with HCS to apply proceeds to debt repayment. As a result, 2025 revenue declined versus the prior year due to non-consolidation of HCS, but profitability improved.
Tungsten remains MSR’s core business, contributing roughly 60% of 2025 revenue, followed by Fluorspar (19%) and copper (18%), with bismuth and other products making up the remainder.
In the “resource wars,” MSR’s position is described as difficult to replicate. With 21% of global tungsten outside China, the company could become a pivotal supplier in Western supply chains.
Under Decision 2581/QD-TTg and the new Geology and Mineral Resources Law effective July 2025, MSR has an advantage in being prioritized to expand Nui Phao by about 55 million tonnes of ore without bidding. This is expected to extend the mine life to 2036 and align the project with government planning.
Vietcap’s analysis suggests tungsten supply from non-Chinese mines has been—and will remain—constrained by regulatory, financial and construction hurdles, and that existing projects are unlikely to fully offset the shortfall when they come online.
MSR also notes that most proposed new tungsten mines face production challenges. Over the last decade, about ten theoretical projects existed, but few have begun or reached production, and several have stalled or closed.
The following mines are described as recently coming into operation or under development, with the most likely to reach production highlighted:
The article frames MSR’s turnaround as a shift from casual-investor optimism to a period of debt distress, followed by a return to profitability as conditions improved. Nui Phao is presented not only as a mining asset but also as a geopolitical asset and a link in securing material for technology and defense supply chains worldwide.
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