Introducing Our Expanded Asia and Middle East Coverage
A Vietnamese materials company’s partnership with a US manufacturer shows how industrial capability becomes strategic influence, and why B2BNN is launching a dedicated Asia section.
The competition to secure critical minerals only begins when a country finds a deposit. It continues through the factories that turn those minerals into something a manufacturer can actually use.
That is the business story taking shape around Masan High-Tech Materials in Vietnam. The company operates the Nui Phao mine and an integrated refining complex in Thai Nguyen province. Its expanding relationship with US manufacturer Elmet connects Vietnamese mining and chemical processing with American production of advanced components. The opportunity extends beyond selling what comes out of one mine: processing material from other suppliers can make an industrial facility valuable across a much wider supply network.
Canada is forging newer, stronger relationships in Asia for both commercial and political reasons. We recently launched Where Should I Incorporate, a tool that looks at business opportunity locations worldwide. A trade agreement between Vietnam and Canada and follow-on an announcement of new daily flights is just the beginning. We are excited to launch B2BNN Asia, our new section examining the emerging epicentre region’s businesses, technology, industrial capacity and commercial relationships.
So much is happening in Asia that is either under-covered, under analyzed or misunderstood until very significant developments are already upon the West. We will follow where capability is being built, who controls it, how it is financed and what it changes for businesses elsewhere. And we are starting Vietnamese processor with an important industrial role, alongside the companies whose finished products receive more attention.
A US investment in Vietnamese capability
In September, Elmet announced an agreement to acquire 4.99% of Masan High-Tech Materials for US$124.75 million. The companies said their commercial relationship already extended over 12 years. Elmet’s announcement described agreements covering both material from Nui Phao and conversion services at Masan’s Vietnamese refinery, including access to additional third-party feedstock.[1]
Masan’s September 24 announcement put the partnership’s duration at more than eight years and its committed annual sales volume at approximately 1,250 tonnes of tungsten trioxide equivalent. That is a defined measure of tungsten content, not 1,250 tonnes of raw ore.[2]
The stake is being purchased from a Masan Group subsidiary; it should not be described as US$125 million of fresh construction funding paid directly into the operating company. Masan said the group would retain approximately 87.46% ownership following the transaction.[2]
Elmet’s announcement made completion subject to approvals and other closing conditions, with the commercial agreements taking effect on completion.[1]
A separate financing proposal emerged in October. Reuters reported on October 5 that Masan High-Tech Materials was seeking shareholder approval to place up to 5% of its shares with long-term investors. The proposed proceeds would support mine expansion, deeper processing, higher-value products and the balance sheet.[3]
These are different transactions with complementary purposes: a strategic customer taking an ownership position, and a proposed capital raise to support the next stage of development.
The industrial asset between the mine and the manufacturer
“Critical minerals” can make this sound primarily like a competition over geology. For a customer, the relevant asset is also the ability to deliver usable material consistently.
Ore must pass through concentration, chemical conversion and subsequent manufacturing stages. Each stage creates a different commercial requirement. A deposit may be substantial while the processing capacity needed to serve a particular customer remains limited.
The Elmet relationship makes that division visible. Masan provides mining and refined chemical inputs; Elmet converts materials into components for industrial and other advanced applications.[1] The strategic relationship connects capabilities held by separate businesses in separate countries.
A refinery serving multiple sources of feedstock can earn revenue from processing expertise as well as from the mineral resource attached to it. Its business is less tightly bounded by the output of its own mine, although it still depends on obtaining suitable feedstock and operating economically.
That is a more demanding position in the supply chain. It requires process knowledge, consistency and customer confidence. It also gives buyers something that a list of undeveloped deposits cannot provide: an operating partner with an established production history.
Expansion needs to be measured carefully
Masan’s June 22 announcement described plans to increase tungsten oxide capacity to more than 8,000 tonnes of WO₃ annually, bringing it into line with its ammonium paratungstate capacity. Ammonium paratungstate, usually abbreviated to APT, is an intermediate tungsten chemical. These are linked processing stages; their capacities should not simply be added together as separate supplies of tungsten.[4]
The company also identified approximately 115 million tonnes of potential tungsten-polymetallic ore resources across the Nui Phao Expansion and Nui Chiem areas. It said these could underpin another 20 to 30 years of activity, while outlining exploration and regulatory work still to be done.[4]
Those figures describe potential ore resources, not an equivalent quantity of recoverable tungsten or fully permitted production.
In a July account published by Masan Group, management discussed increasing refining capacity within an 8,000-to-12,000-tonne range and developing international feedstock partnerships.[5] That supports the direction of the expansion strategy. It does not, by itself, confirm that the upper level is commissioned and operating.
For customers, the milestones to watch are installed and qualified capacity, actual throughput, feedstock availability and delivery performance. Announced expansion becomes commercially useful when those conditions are met.
Why tungsten draws strategic attention
Tungsten supports a broad industrial base. The US Geological Survey identifies cemented carbides—hard, wear-resistant materials used in metalworking, mining and construction—as its largest use. Other applications include electrical components, heat sinks, turbine-related alloys and high-density defence materials.[6]
The supply concentration is substantial. USGS estimates that China accounted for 82% of world mined tungsten production in 2024.[7] That is a mining figure, not a measure of every stage of refining or component manufacture, but it explains why customers are interested in additional sources and processing routes.
The commercial objective is continuity: enough qualified material, at acceptable cost, available when production requires it. A purchasing team cannot solve that problem solely by choosing a supplier with a different national address. It needs to understand where the feedstock originates, who performs conversion, which facilities are qualified and what contractual access survives a disruption.
Vietnamese processing can widen those options. It also illustrates why reducing concentration often involves building new international relationships rather than moving every production stage into one country.
Follow the ownership, as well as the technology
There is another distinction in Masan’s story that broad descriptions of its technology can obscure. The company announced in December 2024 that it had completed the sale of H.C. Starck Holding to Mitsubishi Materials.[8]
Historical descriptions of H.C. Starck’s specialized powders and manufacturing technologies therefore need to be attributed to the correct business. They cannot automatically be presented as capabilities still owned by Masan High-Tech Materials.
Industrial capability can be distributed across mining companies, chemical processors, powder manufacturers and component makers. Ownership changes can rearrange those relationships without eliminating the need for the underlying production stages.
For a business assessing supply-chain resilience, the relevant questions include who owns each facility, who controls the technology and who has a claim on its output. A familiar brand name is insufficient.
Introducing B2BNN Asia
This is the kind of reporting B2BNN Asia will pursue: specific companies, specific capabilities and the commercial consequences of how they develop.
Our coverage will examine AI and software, manufacturing, critical materials, energy, finance and the infrastructure connecting businesses across the region. We will ask how companies move into more valuable activities, how domestic markets shape their products, and how investment and policy affect their ability to compete. We’ll also look at the comms and marketing that shape perceptions.
Asia contains distinct markets with different institutions, constraints and ambitions. Our coverage will reflect those differences. Vietnamese processing capacity merits examination on its own terms, the value it creates for Vietnamese businesses and workers, as well as its market impact and utility to overseas customers.
For Canadian business readers, the questions are practical. Where could a new supplier or partner improve an existing operation? Which capabilities could Canadian companies help develop? Where are competitors gaining expertise that deserves closer attention?
Masan’s tungsten strategy offers a concrete starting point. The mineral is one asset. The ability to process it, secure customers and organize reliable delivery is another. Following how those capabilities are built will be the work of B2BNN Asia.
Sources
1. Elmet: approximately US$125 million investment and commercial partnership, September 2026.
3. Reuters via Kitco: proposed private placement to fund expansion, October 5, 2026.
4. Masan Group: potential resource additions and planned oxide-capacity expansion, June 22, 2026.
5. Masan Group: management discussion of refining expansion and international feedstock, July 30, 2026.
6. US Geological Survey: tungsten uses and industry information.
7. US Geological Survey: China’s mineral production, including estimated 2024 tungsten share.
8. Masan High-Tech Materials: completed H.C. Starck divestment, December 18, 2024.
Editor’s note — remove before publication
The screenshots supplied the reporting lead. This draft uses company announcements, USGS material and Reuters reporting for the factual account. It omits the screenshot’s unconfirmed US$15–20 million expansion estimate, 2026 own-mine/external-feedstock split, historical investment total and market-share range. It does not claim that the Elmet transaction has closed or that planned capacity is already operating. Recheck those two statuses if updating the article before publication. The B2BNN Asia introduction is proposed launch copy; no publication schedule, staffing or on-the-ground reporting commitment has been invented.
