The price of tungsten has soared over the past year, lifting Queensland-focused producer EQ Resources (ASX:EQR) to record cash flow and production at Mt Carbine.

The benchmark ammonium paratungstate (APT) low price reached US$2,900 per mtu on 30 June 2026, up 559 per cent from US$440 a year earlier.

The Fastmarkets price, delivered to Rotterdam and Baltimore, also rose 4 per cent over the quarter, underpinned by a structural shortage of tungsten outside China.

EQ Resources (ASX: EQR) generated record operating cash flow of A$22.5 million for the June quarter, closing with A$28 million cash on hand.

Main image: RC drill rig on site at Mt Carbine Tungsten Mine – pic courtesy EQ Resources

Group production rose 20 per cent to 28,315 mtu, driven by a step change at the company’s Mt Carbine operation in North Queensland.

Mt Carbine lifted production 176 per cent to 13,050 mtu, its highest quarterly output since the first quarter of the 2024 financial year.

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The gain came as mining moved deeper into the high-grade Iolanthe vein, with the gravity plant feed grade almost doubling to 0.258 per cent.

The operation moved a record 1.1 million tonnes of material, averaging 350,000 tonnes a month, while its strip ratio improved to 3.2:1.

EQ Resources’ board approved a A$39 million Mt Carbine expansion on 3 June 2026, spending A$3.5 million on the project during the quarter.

The project would automate the plant and roughly double crushing capacity to about 2 Mtpa, with commissioning targeted for the 2027 financial year’s third quarter.

The expansion was expected to add about 500 tonnes of tungsten a year initially and support the company’s regional hub-and-spoke strategy.

In Queensland, EQ Resources drilled 41 holes for 10,759 metres at Mt Carbine and progressed regulatory work toward reopening its Wolfram Camp project.

The company also agreed to buy the neighbouring Hodgkinson tenements, covering about 365 square kilometres, for A$250,000 to feed its Mt Carbine hub.

At its Barruecopardo mine in Spain, production eased to 15,265 mtu after a one-in-50-year rain event flooded the southern pit.

Access to the flooded pit was regained in early July, and recoveries improved through the quarter to 58.8 per cent in June.

EQ Resources said it remained well placed to benefit from the tungsten shortage through its production base and focus on secure, non-Chinese supply.