On February 4, 2025, China’s Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs made a quiet but powerful announcement. They declared that five critical minerals—tungsten(W), tellurium(Te), bismuth(Bi), molybdenum(Mo), and indium(In)—would be added to the export control list, requiring companies wishing to export them to obtain approval from the Ministry of Commerce. The global market responded immediately. Tungsten prices surged to their highest level in twelve years since 2013, and fear over securing raw materials spread rapidly among industry insiders.
Tungsten is a name rarely heard in our daily lives. Yet without this metal, semiconductor manufacturing halts, drill bits snap. Tungsten is a critical raw material used across advanced strategic industries including semiconductors, defense, aerospace. It is not merely a metal—it is the material that underpins the foundations of modern civilization. As of 2024, Korea’s import dependence on China for tungsten stood at 85% by import value, meaning China effectively holds the supply line. Paradoxically, however, Korea is also the country the international community is now looking to for a solution to this crisis. Deep in the mountains of Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, the Sangdong Mine—dormant for thirty years—is awakening from its long silence.
What Is Tungsten?—The Science Behind the Hardest Metal
Tungsten(W, Wolfram) is element 74 on the periodic table and possesses the highest melting point of any naturally occurring metal at 3,422°C. Its density of 19.3g/cm³ is comparable to lead, yet its strength is overwhelmingly superior, making it one of the heaviest metals by volume.
These properties create unrivaled value across industrial applications. In semiconductor manufacturing, it is used as an interconnect material for circuit wiring. In the defense industry, it serves as the material for high-penetration warheads and armor plating. The tips of cutting tools and drill bits, the high-temperature sections of aircraft engines—tungsten is present in all of them. To say it is an indispensable material for advanced industries is no exaggeration. Because no practical substitute exists, when supply is disrupted, entire industries are disrupted with it.
China’s Weaponization of Resources and Tungsten Hegemony
The global tungsten supply chain’s 80–90% dependence on Chinese supply did not emerge overnight. It is the result of decades of China’s strategic resource acquisition policy. China’s Ministry of Natural Resources set the first-batch tungsten ore mining quota for 2024 at 58,000 tonnes, cutting it by 6.5% from the previous year, signaling the beginning of a deliberate supply squeeze. The decisive turning point came in early 2025. Immediately after the U.S. government’s executive order imposing an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods took effect, China swiftly announced its export control measures—a card it had prepared in advance. It was the moment China officially declared to the world that critical minerals had become a new weapon in diplomatic and trade negotiations. Export controls do not outright ban exports, but since the granting of permits is left to the discretionary judgment of the Chinese government, companies find it difficult to secure the volume they need at the time they need it.
US Alliance Strategy and Supply Chain Restructuring
The United States swiftly recognized that China’s export controls were not mere economic measures. When critical minerals are weaponized, the response shifts to military and national security. The U.S. accelerated the construction of a “de-Sinicized supply chain,” aiming not simply to diversify import sources, but to build supply chain blocs centered around allies. Already, the U.S. has elevated critical mineral security to a national strategic imperative via the Inflation Reduction Act and Defense Production Act. It is restructuring global value chains by strengthening cooperation with resource-rich nations like Australia and Canada, and expanding technology partnerships with Japan and Europe. Strategic minerals like tungsten are now replacing crude oil as the center of geopolitics.
Notably, the “starting point of the technological hegemony competition” is changing. The competition has moved upstream from semiconductor manufacturing to resource extraction and raw material procurement. Without raw materials, entire industries halt. Supply chains are no longer about efficiency; they are a matter of survival.
The Strategic Rise of South Korea’s Sangdong Mine
Amidst this shift, international attention is drawn to South Korea’s Sangdong Mine in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province. Once the world’s largest tungsten producer, this mine shuttered in the 1990s due to declining price competitiveness. However, aligning with global supply chain restructuring, it is re-emerging as a core strategic asset after 30 years.
Notably, its redevelopment is spearheaded by Almonty Industries, a Canadian multinational mining company. This signifies more than a foreign capital influx; it demonstrates the friend-shoring of critical mineral supply chains materializing on South Korean soil. Combining North American capital with South Korean resources, the mine is positioning itself as a western stronghold bypassing China’s monopolistic supply chain.
For South Korea, this presents a critical opportunity for structural transformation. While demonstrating strength in advanced manufacturing like semiconductors and batteries, the country has suffered from high reliance on foreign raw materials. The Sangdong Mine is the starting point to sever this vulnerable link. It also illustrates that within the U.S.-led supply chain restructuring, South Korea can expand its role from a mere “manufacturing nation” into a “crucial nexus linking resources, technology, and alliances.”
An Era in Which Mining is Statecraft
China’s export controls deliver a clear message. Resources are no longer confined to the market. Tungsten is no longer just an industrial metal, but a strategic asset moving international geopolitics. Nations controlling supply hold bargaining power, prompting others to form alliances and blocs. We have entered an era in which mining is statecraft.
Amidst this shift, the Sangdong Mine’s reactivation through Canadian cooperation holds immense symbolic significance. The resurrection of a mine dormant for 30 years is not merely industrial news. It signals the position South Korea can occupy in the global supply chain realignment. Once a passive consumer dependent on China, South Korea is revealing its potential to actively participate in international alliance networks using strategic resources.
The global competition surrounding tungsten is only just beginning. However, one truth is clear: what drives the age of technology is no longer just technology itself, but the resources making it possible. Strategic choices and allied solidarity surrounding these resources will ultimately determine the future of diplomacy.
Kim Hee-nu(Planning Editor)
heennx@soongsil.ac.kr
Kim Bo-kyung(ST Cub-Reporter)
rlaqhrxd@soongsil.ac.kr
