Tungsten is used in lithium batteries for electric vehicles and the creation of semiconductor transistors, among many other roles in electronics and manufacturing. But China controls 83 percent of the world's supply of the critical metal and has imposed strict limits on its export to the U.S.

Lewis Black is CEO of Almonty Industries Inc. of Toronto, the world's largest tungsten producer outside of China. In a bid to boost supply of the metal, Almonty is ramping up output at the reopened Sangdong Mine outside of Seoul, South Korea, one of the world's biggest outside of China. Black spoke with News Editor Lindsay Chappell about the outlook for tungsten. Here are edited excepts.

Q: Will more tungsten mining help solve the semiconductor shortage?

A: With China controlling 83 percent of tungsten production, they set the price and the price has escalated dramatically. But it's not just one problem. In a regular car, you have 800 to 1,000 semiconductors. In an EV, you have more than double that. So the demand is going to go up significantly in the next few years.

Will the industry need more mining around the world?

I think that in the future, you must have a supply chain you can drive to. We're trying now to switch some of our output so it can be collected by truck.

That implies that more mining locations would be needed. Even here in the U.S.?

So many mines went out of business in the '80s and early '90s. There were hundreds of mines, and two survived. There really wasn't any great appetite by Western governments to support mining. It was considered a bit 19th century. And now it's politically hard to talk about putting a mine near people.

But there's also an issue of the skill set disappearing. Right now, we can still find people who can do the work. But in the future, in my view, automation will be essential to pick up the slack.

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