Masan operating an integrated value chain from mining to deep processing for more than a decade

GB Innovation, a South Korean tungsten mining company, has selected MSR as its processing partner, thereby filling the missing intermediate link in South Korea's tungsten supply chain outside China, while further affirming MSR's position as one of the few leading tungsten processing platforms outside China. The processing fee structure is linked to the APT price and includes a price floor mechanism, helping limit the risk of margin erosion, improve the predictability of business results, and optimize the operating performance of the processing plant.

The concentrate supply from partners, together with the long-life resource base at Nui Phao, the Nui Phao Expansion area, and Nui Chiem, provides a foundation for MSR to improve plant operating performance and expand tungsten oxide capacity to more than 8,000 tons per year.

Under the agreement, MSR's tungsten processing and chemicals plant will process tungsten concentrate from GBI into Ammonium Paratungstate ("APT") and tungsten oxide products. This long-term cooperation agreement combines a stable concentrate supply from partners with a tightly designed processing fee mechanism. The processing fee is determined as a percentage of the APT price index published by Fastmarkets and is protected by a price floor mechanism, which helps limit the risk of margin erosion, improve the predictability of business results, and optimize the operating performance of MSR's existing processing platform.

This partnership reflects a structural feature of the regional supply chain: although many countries hold tungsten resources at the mining stage, large-scale processing capacity outside China remains very limited. South Korea holds tungsten resources at the mining stage, with GBI targeting an output of about 200,000 tons of run-of-mine (ROM) ore per year, but it needs large-scale processing capacity to convert domestic concentrate into higher-value-added tungsten products for industrial production. MSR meets this need through an integrated platform capable of processing various types of concentrate with different grades and impurity characteristics, while also processing them into high-purity tungsten chemical products.

Large reserves of Nui Phao Mine creating long-term ore supply potential for deep processing production activities

For GBI, this partnership helps complete South Korea's tungsten supply chain outside China, from mining to refined intermediate tungsten products serving domestic industry. By processing GBI's tungsten concentrate into APT and tungsten oxide products in Vietnam, MSR provides the missing intermediate link between mining and downstream application industries such as defense, semiconductors, aerospace, automotive, specialty alloys, and high-tech manufacturing.

This partnership is particularly significant for South Korea's semiconductor industry. Tungsten is an essential material for producing tungsten hexafluoride (WF₆) - an important precursor used to form tungsten films in advanced semiconductor devices, including new-generation logic chips, DRAM, and 3D NAND memory. Recent shortages of high-purity tungsten have shown that semiconductor material and chip manufacturers are highly vulnerable to disruption when the upstream tungsten supply fluctuates. Ensuring a stable supply of refined intermediate tungsten products through this partnership will help reduce the risk of disruption to South Korea's semiconductor supply chain. Amid continued investment in AI infrastructure driving demand for semiconductors and strategic materials, South Korea's challenge also reflects the growing global demand for large-scale tungsten processing capacity outside China.

Masan High-Tech Materials contributing 21% of global tungsten supply outside China

Demand for such cooperation models is growing across the entire tungsten market outside China. Many resource owners can develop ore mines, but very few have access to large-scale, proven, and reliably operated processing capacity outside China. MSR's platform in Vietnam helps address this gap by converting concentrate from partners into higher-value-added intermediate tungsten products, helping resource owners move beyond the concentrate-selling model, while providing downstream customers with a safer and more reliable source of tungsten material outside China.

MSR's processing platform is underpinned by a long-life resource base in Vietnam. According to the National Mineral Planning, the Nui Phao Expansion and Nui Chiem areas are estimated to hold potential resources of about 115 million tons of polymetallic tungsten, subject to the necessary approvals, licenses, and consents from competent state authorities. Building on this resource base, concentrate supply from partners has become an increasingly important component that delivers high business efficiency within MSR's operating model. By combining ore from its existing mine with concentrate from more than 20 supply and mining partners, MSR can improve processing plant operating performance, enhance cost competitiveness, and support its plan to expand tungsten oxide processing capacity to more than 8,000 tons per year.

MSR - A world-class production facility operated in Vietnam, supplying essential minerals to the world

"This partnership confirms that the value of MSR's model for building a global strategic materials platform is on the right track. Resource owners increasingly need a reliable, large-scale processing partner outside China, and Vietnam's MSR is becoming that choice. By combining a long-life resource base, concentrate supply from partners, and advanced deep processing capacity, we are gradually building a global strategic materials platform, in which the integrated tungsten platform is a core capability, helping generate stable cash flow, improve capital efficiency, and deliver sustainable value to customers, partners, and shareholders" – said by Mr. Michael Glover, Chief Executive Officer of Masan High-Tech Materials.

"We are very pleased to partner with MSR. Its proven processing capacity, together with its position as one of the leading tungsten producers outside China, makes MSR an ideal partner as we strengthen South Korea's tungsten supply chain. This partnership lays a solid foundation for a long-term cooperative relationship between our two companies" – said by Mr. Tiger Kim, Chief Executive Officer of GB Innovation.