美国国防部4.5亿美元入股钨企Elmet近20%股权，配套约20亿美元国防合同，公司盘中一度暴涨55%

The Pentagon will take a near-20% stake in a US producer of tungsten — a metal used in military hardware — in a move that expands the Trump administration’s push to secure critical minerals supplies outside China.

The $450 million investment in the Elmet Group Co. will be used to increase tungsten manufacturing in the US, while boosting the company’s long-term access to feedstock for its plants, Elmet said on Monday. Its shares jumped as much as 55%.

President Donald Trump has led a US effort to ease China’s stranglehold on supplies across a range of strategic commodities, especially those that are critical for the defense industry. Prices for tungsten — a super-dense material used in armor-piercing weaponry — have risen more than eightfold since China tightened controls on exports in early 2025.

“Tungsten is essential to the systems that protect American warfighters and sustain deterrence, and this investment helps secure a domestic processing capability the United States cannot afford to leave exposed,” George K. Kollitides II, director of the economic defense unit at the Department of Defense, said in a statement.

The Elmet agreement adds to a string of White House deals with American miners or refiners, kickstarted last year by a landmark $400 million investment by the Pentagon in rare earths champion MP Materials Corp. Other targets include USA Rare Earth Inc., Canada’s Lithium Americas Corp. and mine developer Trilogy Metals Inc.

The investment in Elmet will be made through a redeemable preferred-equity structure and will give the Defense Department a 19.9% stake, the company said. The Pentagon will have the right to appoint an independent director to Elmet’s board of directors.

Tighter supplies of tungsten materials have sparked a global scramble to secure alternative sources for both the long and short term. On Monday, American miner Almonty Industries Inc. unveiled a partnership with Rwanda to source tungsten from the African nation, a deal that the US government helped structure but won’t directly fund.

Price gains for tungsten accelerated earlier this year as buyers exhausted stockpiles, and the Middle East conflict sharpened focus on military needs. The market has stabilized in recent months.

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The investment in Elmet is supposed to help finance the company’s operations in Maine, Michigan and Ohio, where it manufactures and processes tungsten, molybdenum and other materials, according to the company. The funding will also support the firm’s investments in mining and processing operations in the US, Australia and Spain, it said.

Advisors on the deal include Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and Goldman Sachs & Co.