Odd Lots · Monday, August 3, 2026
David Fickling explains that the vast majority of tungsten use, about 80%, is for tungsten carbide in industrial tooling like drill bits due to its hardness. However, the commodity's price is highly sensitive to military demand, which can lead to significant price spikes and make non-Chinese mining operations difficult to finance.
“You've done your research, Tracy, I mean this carbide tooling, I could tell that was the I mean, the key reason you will use tungsten is again because it's very hard. It's basically drill bits. If you're in an auto shop, then you'll use the drill bit for working metal. If you're in a mine, it will be on the end of a drill bit there, or in an oil well, anywhere where you need to drill something very hard.”
“And so most tungsten, now eighty percent of it is just tungsten carvide its tools, and you can buy it in your local toolshop. You'll find it everywhere, and it's a fairly fairly boring hum drum element.”
“If war is pending, people pay any price for those sorts of physical properties.”