Alvear moves to bridge tungsten supply gap with IPO and Argentine mine restart

• Alvear preparing for ASX debut via an IPO targeting up to $7.5m
• Plans to restart production at an historical Argentine tungsten mine
• Positioning to become one of limited number of Western producers

Tungsten emerged as one of the resource sector’s hottest commodities in 2026.

The metal’s unique properties make it a key cog in defence, electronics, aerospace and advanced manufacturing, with supply security firmly on the agenda for many nations.

China dominates supply with more than 80% of global output and in 2025 Beijing sent shockwaves through Western economies by introducing export restrictions.

Constrained supply and strong demand pushed tungsten prices to dizzying heights, creating opportunities for new players seeking to enter the Western supply chain.

One company looking to capitalise is Alvear Tungsten as it pursues a near-term restart of an historical tungsten mine at its Nueva Santa Clara project in Argentina.

The company is preparing to list on the ASX through an IPO targeting between $4.5 million and $7.5 million.

Proceeds are earmarked for exploration, resource definition and development studies aimed at bringing the historical operation back to life.

The company will likely have access to the mineralised system through existing underground development while a simple gravity flowsheet could support a relatively low-capital restart.

Alvear is targeting a final investment decision in mid-2028 and scalable production from 2029, potentially positioning the group amongst a limited number of tungsten producers in the West.

Beyond Nueva Santa Clara, the company sees scope for regional expansion, with further acquisitions providing another potential pathway to build a broader tungsten portfolio in Argentina.

Tungsten supply squeeze

Tungsten is classified as a critical and strategic metal by the EU, US, Japan, Korea and Australia.

It is best known for having the highest melting point of any metal, along with its exceptional hardness and resistance to wear and corrosion.

These traits make tungsten a key ingredient in high-performance cutting tools and wear-resistant metal parts, alongside high-temperature components in aerospace and industrial furnaces.

It is also used in radiation shielding, precision counterweights in aircraft and vehicles, medical devices and specialty electronics.

Tungsten’s strategic importance has expanded into the semiconductor supply chain, where tungsten hexafluoride is a vital input for advanced chip manufacturing.

China’s export controls have highlighted supply chain vulnerabilities, accelerating efforts amongst Western economies to secure alternative sources of the metal.

The restrictions also appear to be reshaping the global market by creating two distinct pricing environments, with one for China and another for the rest of the world.

Tungsten is typically sold in chemically refined form, mainly as ammonium paratungstate.

APT prices outside China have soared since Beijing introduced export restrictions at the start of last year.

The benchmark price for non-Chinese APT in Rotterdam currently sits at about US$2675 per metric tonne unit, up from about US$335 per MTU in January 2025.

In comparison, Chinese domestic APT prices presently trade at about US$800 to US$850 per MTU.

“China controls 80% of the tungsten production in the world and everything else is already spoken for,” Alvear managing director Spencer Cole told Stockhead.

“So, you’ve got this market that’s exploding because people can’t get the supply they need in Japan, in Europe, in the US.

“And with that happening, the price of tungsten is just going through the roof.

“There’s more demand than there is tungsten available.”

Restart playbook

Tungsten’s ascent has seen the handful of producers and developers listed on the ASX make their way onto the investment radar.

EQ Resources (ASX:EQR) operates the Mt Carbine mine in Queensland and the Barruecopardo mine in Spain.

Its share price has soared by about 600% in the past year, lifting its market cap to around $1.5 billion.

Shares in developer Tungsten Mining (ASX:TGN) have also more than doubled in the past 12 months.

Group 6 Metals (ASX:G6M) recently recommenced trading on the ASX following a financial recapitalisation for its Dolphin mine in Tasmania. Its market cap currently stands at nearly $600 million.

For the most part, these companies have pursued a strategy centred on the restart of historical mines.

Their success could provide a blueprint for other ASX tungsten hopefuls looking to capitalise on elevated prices and Western appetite for the metal.

Alvear aspires to join that list by becoming one of the next tungsten producers on our bourse.

“There’s plenty of tungsten projects out there, but most of them are early-stage exploration,” Cole said.

“The people that did have a mine restart, you know, Almonty, EQ, G6M, their share price has gone through the roof.

“They can’t supply all the demand out there, even with their expansions and with their restarts.

“This is a fantastic time to bring a new tungsten project forward, especially given that we have the ability to follow the path of those highest-value public tungsten companies, with a restart as the basis for our company.”

Last week, Abenojar Tungsten also listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange after raising about £143 million – equivalent to A$273 million – to advance its El Moto tungsten and gold project in Spain towards production.

Unlocking Nueva Santa Clara

Nueva Santa Clara is a past-producing tungsten project centred on the historical San Antonio mine in the Sierra de Zapata tungsten district, within Argentina’s Catamarca province.

San Antonio was discovered in 1918 and churned out between 300t and 400t of concentrate during its major operating periods.

Mining largely ceased following the end of WWII, with subsequent production mainly artisanal.

The project hosts steeply dipping quartz-wolframite veins developed around a fertile granite cupola. Historical mining returned grades of more than 1% WO3 and delivered a concentrate grading between 65% and 71% WO3.

At least 15 primary veins have been identified, with mineralisation defined to about 250m below surface and open at depth and along strike.

Alvear is targeting a final investment decision for the historical mine within 18 months.

Underground workings provide immediate access to the mineralised system, with a simple gravity processing flowsheet supporting the company’s proposed low-capital restart strategy.

“We know what the grades were, we have reports, we have data, we have leapfrog models based on old reports and drawings and information,” explained Cole.

“So, what we have is an opportunity to move quickly.

“We already know where the previous mining was done, we know it wasn’t tapped out, they just abandoned it when they could no longer get material to Europe at the end of World War II.

“We know that it’s wolframite dominated, so that means it can be processed via very simple gravity processing.

“The roadmap is there, we know where the material is, we know how to process it.

“It runs at a high-grade, historical-back calculated 2% grade out of the ground.

“The big players are running at 0.25% to 0.3% tungsten, so we can do it small which makes permitting easy.

“It’s low tech, it’s easily permitted, it’s small scale, it’s high grade.”

Road to production

Alvear has outlined a work program on its path to a final investment decision and potential production.

This includes between 2000m and 4000m of initial drilling to support a maiden resource estimate.

It plans another 2000m to 4000m in subsequent drilling with the objective of defining an indicated mineral resource to underpin a scoping study.

Up to 6000m of step-out drilling could also be on the cards to test for mineralised extensions below 250m, along strike, and within the broader structural trend.

Systematic mapping and exploration drilling to identify additional tungsten centres within the broader Sierra de Zapata corridor is also on the agenda.

Metallurgical testwork will look to confirm wolframite liberation and recovery, with the goal of producing a premium concentrate grading between 65% and 70% WO3.

Geological and economic modelling, mining and infrastructure studies, and baseline environmental studies are also planned, along with underground access rehabilitation and permitting activities for the processing plant and mine restart.

Together, these works are designed to move the project towards a rapid restart and initial cash flow for Alvear.

Cole expects the IPO and subsequent ASX listing to generate a steady flow of news on the road to production.

“Post-IPO, in just the weeks following, you’re going to see geophysics results, you’re going to see initial rock characteristics and metallurgy.

“In a month, so probably still weeks, we’re going to see drill assay results from the first couple thousand metre program.

“That should enable us to put out an exploration target pretty quickly, especially given all the historical data that we’ve got that we’re just validating.

“And then if you talk months, you’re going to be talking about a resource and the concept study, not long behind.

“So, it’s going to be a rich news flow post-IPO.”

Room to grow

Beyond the potential restart in production, Alvear has identified further exploration upside at Nueva Santa Clara.

The project has not seen modern drilling since the 1950s, providing an opportunity for parallel vein discoveries and further depth extensions.

The company is also negotiating a 12-month option to acquire tenure covering the broader Sierra de Zapata tungsten district.

It believes this prospective corridor has potential to host repetitions of mineralisation.

“Although you’re starting out essentially brownfield, doing your exploration around the historic mine, we have smaller historic mines to the north and south that are also within this package of tenements, and we’ll be exploring around those.

“We’re going to start brownfield and then step out.

“But within the greenfield exploration, you’ve got this big corridor that’s got the same geology and from all the imagery work we’ve done thus far, and the sampling work we’ve done thus far, looks very prospective for tungsten.

“So, exploration upside is significant.”

Alvear is also considering further expansion through acquisitions of other projects in the Catamarca province or elsewhere in Argentina.

“We’re also looking at other historic tungsten mining areas in Argentina,” Cole said.

“San Antonio was the biggest tungsten mine in Argentina, but we’re looking at number two, number three, and evaluating whether those are things we want to proceed with as well.”

Alvear is targeting an ASX debut by the end of the year.

It expects to trade under the ticker code ‘ATW’ with a market cap of about $19m.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Alvear Tungsten is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

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