An American miner is partnering with Rwanda’s government to source and process tungsten from the African nation, extending a push to build a Western-aligned supply chain for the strategic metal that reduces reliance on China.

Rwanda will take a 25% stake in a local unit of Almonty Industries Inc. by contributing an exploration concession and a processing license, according to a binding agreement disclosed Monday. The Dillon, Montana-based company will maintain the balance of the ownership.

The deal underscores growing efforts by the US and its allies to secure supplies of critical minerals outside China, which dominates global tungsten production and processing. Chinese export curbs and rising military demand in recent years have squeezed the market for a metal that’s used in armour-piercing weaponry and semiconductors.

The US government helped structure the Rwanda partnership and provided political support, but isn’t putting up funding, Almonty CEO Lewis Black said in an interview. Tungsten will be shipped to customers in the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea, he said.

Rather than waiting years for a new mine to be developed, the partnership plans to begin acquiring ore, pre-concentrate and panning tailings from existing licensed Rwandan producers, including small-scale miners. That material can initially be sold, upgraded or exported while the partners work toward building a permanent collection and processing facility in Rwanda.

The venture also plans to deploy a mobile processing unit near existing tailings dams and explore the roughly 32-square-kilometer (12-square-mile) Shyorongi concession. The structure is intended to give Almonty access to near-term tungsten supply while simultaneously developing a larger domestic processing and production base. It’s seen as a blueprint for other countries where small-scale tungsten mining is practiced, Black said.

Still, tapping Rwanda’s existing mining industry presents challenges, including ensuring material from a fragmented small-scale sector meets Western standards on labour, environmental practices and traceability. Rwanda has faced longstanding allegations that tungsten smuggled from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi is laundered through its supply chain and exported as Rwandan.

Black said the venture is both a short-term solution for the West, given how long it takes to build new mines, and a way to help formalise Rwanda’s mining industry and improve traceability. “Traders can play with the pirates,” he said. “We’re only interested in licensed domestic output.”

Rwanda is the only African nation among the world’s ten largest tungsten producers, giving it an outsized role in Western efforts to diversify supply. Trinity Metals, a Vancouver-based firm, operates the Nyakabingo mine in Rwanda, the continent’s largest.

Trinity said in June that more than 320 tons of high-grade concentrate from Nyakabingo had been shipped to a processing facility in Pennsylvania since an offtake agreement was struck last year, supplying as much as 20% of US primary tungsten concentrate consumption.

China accounts for the vast majority of global mine production and has a dominant position further down the tungsten supply chain, making the metal one of several commodities that Washington has identified as vulnerable to supply disruptions.

At almost $3 000 a metric ton unit, tungsten prices are up more than eightfold since Beijing added certain products to its export control list in February 2025. Gains accelerated earlier this year as buyers exhausted stockpiles and Middle East conflict sharpened focus on military demand, before stabilising in recent months.

High prices alone won’t be enough to resolve the squeeze, with projects facing constraints in financing, permitting and construction, according to investment researchers The Oregon Group. That increases the importance of government support and long-term offtake agreements.

Almonty describes itself as a turnaround investor-operator specialising in conflict-free tungsten and cooperating with several governments. It is ramping up a major mine in South Korea, has established operations in Portugal and has additional projects in Spain and the US.

The Rwanda partnership aims to modernize and expand the local industry while strengthening trade and long-term mineral supply links between Rwanda and the US, according to the company.