Masan High-Tech Materials reports profit: a view from Nui Phao mine

As the global tungsten market enters a rapidly rising phase, the company’s financial report has attracted attention from investors in the mining sector, with the commodity cycle a hot topic.

Highest fourth-quarter profit since 2022

In 2025, MSR posted a net revenue of VND7.44 trillion ($286 million), up 19 per cent on year. Excluding the results of H.C. Starck (HCS), which MSR has fully divested since the end of 2024, the company saw its revenue jump by $44.9 million. The increase was driven primarily by strong growth in the tungsten segment, alongside improved tungsten and fluorspar recovery rates at the Nui Phao mine.

In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, MSR posted a net after-tax profit of $8.5 million, its highest quarterly level since 2022. For the entire year, MSR achieved a net profit of $423,044. The company has become profitable after many years of investments in raising its technological and operational capabilities.

These results underscore MSR’s positive sensitivity when the tungsten cycle reverses. It also reflects structural improvements in mine operation and processing.

Tungsten a main driver

In the 2025 revenue structure, tungsten played a leading role, generating $171.5 million, up 33 per cent from the previous year. Revenue from fluorspar reached $1.66 million, supported by higher selling prices and improved recovery efficiency.

At the Nui Phao mine, the fluorspar recovery rate was 65.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025, a sharp increase on-year. It reflects the efficiency of mine operations and the optimisation of processing technology.

The strong growth in the tungsten segment amid rising ammonium paratungstate (APT) prices indicates that the company has entered a favourable phase of the commodity cycle after a long period of pressure from costs and output markets.

MSR, a member of the Masan Group ecosystem, specialises in supplying critical minerals, including tungsten, fluorspar, and bismuth, used in key industries such as defence, aviation, automotive, electronics, energy, and pharmaceutical. Established in 2010, the company initially engaged in the mining and trading of tungsten concentrate, copper concentrate, fluorspar concentrate, and bismuth concentrate.

MSR currently owns 100 per cent stakes in subsidiaries operating mining and trading activities in Thai Nguyen province, with Nui Phao Mining and Mineral Processing Co. playing a central role.

Largest tungsten mine outside China

The Nui Phao mine is the largest tungsten mine outside China, which is fully owned and operated by MSR.

When mining began in 2014, Nui Phao Mine had an estimated reserve of 66 million tonnes, with an expected mining lifespan of 20 years. At present, Nui Phao Company has a charter capital of nearly $415 million.

Nui Phao has a permitted mining area of 90 ha and total approved reserves of 83.22 million tonnes, including nearly 55.2 million tonnes for open-pit mining and nearly 28.03 million tonnes for underground operations.

The venture is preparing to secure approval to exploit the remaining underground reserves and to transition to a combined open-pit and underground mining method, aimed at optimising efficiency and extending the mine’s lifespan.

In November last year, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha signed Decision No. 2581/QD-TTg approving adjustments to the national master plan for mineral exploration, mining, and processing for 2021–2030 and beyond, including the updated boundaries and development orientation of the mine. This adjustment provides an important legal foundation for MSR to fully mobilise permitted reserves and expand deep processing more sustainably.

Through the tungsten price cycle

In the global tungsten market, China currently accounts for around 70–80 per cent of mining supply. However, it has recently tightened mining quotas and export controls, while tungsten demand in high-tech, defence, and clean energy continues to rise.

In late 2025, APT prices – a key intermediate product of tungsten – surpassed a 14-year-high, and has been hovering around $735–780 per metric tonne unit. Among strategic minerals, tungsten is increasingly being hailed as the new "black gold" of the high-tech industrial era.

Against this backdrop, Vietnam – home to the world’s third-largest tungsten reserves (around 95,000 tonnes) – has emerged as a critical location, with the Nui Phao mine at its core.

Analysis of MSR’s 2025 financial report suggests the company has passed the bottom of its cycle trough, with profits returning and tungsten once again driving growth. However, current results only reflect the early phase of the tungsten price cycle, as the strategic value of the Nui Phao mine has yet to be fully reflected in profits.

Added to this, the deep processing chain is still being completed, while cash flows and financial efficiency tend to lag commodity price fluctuations. With its mine scale, legal foundation, and position in the global supply chain, Nui Phao remains the core asset underpinning MSR’s long-term outlook, particularly as the tungsten market enters a period of tightening supply.

MSR share surge

Alongside improving business results and a sharp rise in tungsten prices, MSR shares have recorded strong gains.

From low prices in 2024, MSR's share price have steadily recovered and increased sharply in the last months of 2025 and early 2026, reflecting market expectations for a new tungsten cycle as well as the strategic role of the Nui Phao mine.

The rally in MSR shares occurred ahead of the breakthrough in 2025 profits. This suggests that the market is valuing the company based on the outlook for the commodity cycle, its strategic asset position outside China, and its ability to translate the advantages of the Nui Phao mine in the years ahead.

This development is also in line with other mining stocks. Share prices often reflect the expectation of commodity cycles earlier than financial reports, while profits and cash flow typically lag.

Masan High-Tech Materials to grab opportunities from rising tungsten prices Masan High-Tech Materials (MSR) stands to benefit from rising tungsten prices thanks to its “Back to Basics” strategy and its Nui Phao mine in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, one of the largest tungsten mines in the world outside of China.

German Parliamentary State Secretary Stefan Rouenhoff visits Nui Phao tungsten mine Stefan Rouenhoff, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany, led a high-level delegation of ministry officials and senior executives to visit Masan High-Tech Materials (MHT), the operator of Nui Phao mine in Thai Nguyen province.

Tungsten surges to 12-year high as world enters a new 'black gold' race Global tungsten markets are experiencing one of the strongest upcycles in more than a decade.