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As interest in critical minerals continues to grow, investors are increasingly comparing companies based on operational maturity, financial performance, and strategic positioning. EQ Resources (ASX:EQR), Almonty Industries (ASX:AII), and MP Materials represent three very different scale profiles in the space — from early-stage production to fully integrated global suppliers. If you’re following tungsten or just catching up, here’s a snapshot into where things are starting in CY26.
EQ Resources: Rapid revenue growth during ramp-up
EQ has delivered substantial revenue growth as its tungsten operations scaled. Revenue increased from $5.57 million in 2022 to approximately $66 million in 2025, reflecting rising production and stronger realised pricing.
Over the same period, the company has remained loss-making as it invested heavily in mine development, processing capacity, and working capital. In 2025, EQ reported a net loss of roughly $39.3M, equating to a loss margin of approximately 59% of revenue; a meaningful improvement from earlier years when losses exceeded total sales.
In December, EQ raised approximately $34 million via equity financing, issuing roughly 680 million new shares and increasing its total share count to about 4.63 billion. The capital strengthened the balance sheet and supported continued production growth, although it also diluted existing shareholders.
EQ remains in a growth and optimisation phase, with its financial results reflecting the cost of building scale rather than a lack of commercial demand.
Almonty Industries: Producing cash flow while building scale
Almonty also operates in the tungsten market, but at a more advanced stage, offering more stability with significant growth ramping up. The company’s Panasqueira mine in Portugal generates ongoing revenue, while the Sangdong tungsten project in South Korea is expected to materially expand output.
In its most recent financial year, Almonty reported revenue of around $43M, while recording a net loss of roughly $24M, driven largely by development spending on Sangdong, financing costs, and non-cash accounting items.
Unlike EQ, which is still in production ramp-up, Almonty already has:
- Operating cash inflows from an established mine
- Long-term offtake agreements with industrial and allied buyers
- Project financing in place for its next major production hub
This gives Almonty greater revenue visibility and a more clearly defined pathway to higher-scale cash flow as Sangdong comes online.
MP Materials: Large-scale, vertically integrated operator
MP Materials operates at a completely different scale. Focused on rare earth elements rather than tungsten, the company generated approximately $347 million in annual revenue in its most recent year and has achieved periods of positive operating cash flow depending on rare earth pricing.
MP has invested heavily in downstream integration, including processing facilities and magnet manufacturing, positioning not just as a miner but as a full-spectrum supplier to the defence, automotive, and clean-energy sectors.
While MP’s earnings fluctuate with commodity prices and capital investment cycles, its revenue base is an order of magnitude larger than either EQ or Almonty, and its balance sheet, customer relationships, and strategic partnerships place it in a very different risk category.
Investor takeaway
These three companies illustrate how scale and maturity shape financial profiles in the critical minerals sector.
- EQ is in a high-growth, capital-intensive ramp-up phase, with rapidly rising revenue but continued losses as it builds operational scale.
- Almonty sits in the mid-tier development category, combining producing assets with a clearly defined growth project that is expected to drive future revenue.
- MP represents a large-scale, vertically integrated supplier, with hundreds of millions in revenue and strategic exposure across the value chain.
For any interested investors, the tungsten comparison shows that losses alone do not define risk — where a listed company sits on the production and scale curve matters just as much as the headline numbers.
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