Tungsten West Plc (TUN.L): Britain’s Tungsten Breakthrough. How Anchor Capital Is Preparing the Restart of Hemerdon
A major consolidation is unfolding on London’s AIM market in the critical minerals sector. Tungsten West Plc shares have recorded a sharp annual rise amid significant accumulation by professional investors and preparations to restart one of the world’s largest tungsten deposits. The Hemerdon project in Devon is entering the final phase of commissioning, with the ambition of becoming a key independent source of strategic raw materials for Western defense and aerospace industries, reducing reliance on China.
Tungsten West PLC is a publicly listed company whose shares trade on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market under the ticker TUN. The company does not have a single controlling shareholder; its capital is distributed among major institutional investors, private shareholders and other holders. As of 25 June 2026, the company reported that 72.4% of its shares were not in public hands, meaning they were outside the freely traded public float.
Tungsten West’s largest shareholders are:
- Lansdowne Developed Markets Master Fund Limited — 28.2%;
- Greg Coffey — 15.6%;
- Henry Maxey — 10.0%;
- Baker Steel Resources Trust Ltd — 9.4%;
- Drakewood Capital Management Limited / David Lilley — 8.2%.
The ownership structure therefore shows a highly concentrated shareholder base rather than a single controlling owner. Lansdowne is the company’s largest shareholder, while Greg Coffey, Henry Maxey, Baker Steel and Drakewood are among its other key holders.
In July 2026, Drakewood Capital Management confirmed a position of 8.22% of voting rights, representing 102,579,051 voting rights. Of this, 8.17% was held indirectly through Drakewood Investments Limited and 0.05% directly by Drakewood Capital Management Limited.
Institutional capital has effectively created a tightly concentrated ownership structure around the project. Capital injections, including the February financing round and a subsequent $25 million interim loan in May, enabled the company to settle outstanding obligations to former contractors and accelerate the procurement of mining and haulage equipment. The strategic importance of the mine has also elevated refinancing discussions to the level of government institutions, with the project being considered by the U.S. Export-Import Bank under a program aimed at strengthening critical-mineral supply chains.
The global tungsten market is undergoing a structural shift toward persistent supply shortages. Years of underinvestment in new projects, declining ore quality at existing mines and shrinking inventories have coincided with increasing supply-side pressure. China, which has historically accounted for more than 80% of global tungsten supply, is tightening its export policy. Against this backdrop, prices for ammonium paratungstate (APT) have surged, materially improving the economics of independent projects.
U.S. regulatory policy provides an additional catalyst: from January 1, 2027, new defense rules will restrict Pentagon contractors’ use of Chinese-origin tungsten materials, creating additional demand for Western sources of supply.
Tungsten West’s operating schedule envisages a phased restoration of production. The company states that capital improvement works are underway in 2026, with the fine-gravity circuit targeted for Q3 2026, the coarse-gravity circuit for Q4, and full commissioning of nameplate capacity commencing in Q1 2027. Steady-state production is expected in the second half of 2027.
Hemerdon is therefore moving from preparation toward the practical restoration of its production cycle against a backdrop of a structurally tight tungsten market.
Andrievskii Verdict
Tungsten West represents a case of a strategic industrial asset being consolidated by major private and institutional capital. More than 72% of the company’s shares are outside the public float, with the largest positions concentrated among Lansdowne, Greg Coffey, Henry Maxey, Baker Steel and Drakewood. This creates an unusually concentrated shareholder structure around the Hemerdon project and significantly reduces the company’s effective free float.
Against the backdrop of a global tungsten shortage and changes in China’s trade policy, the project has moved beyond the scope of an ordinary commercial mining operation and acquired the characteristics of a strategic raw-material asset for Western markets.
The key investment factor now is the transition from financing and preparation to actual production. The coming months will show how precisely Tungsten West can execute its stated timetable: fine-gravity in Q3 2026, coarse-gravity in Q4 and full project commissioning in Q1 2027. Delivering on this schedule could transform Hemerdon from a strategic asset into a functioning independent Western source of tungsten.
Aleksei Andrievskii | Advisory Board Member, Bendura Bank AG | Liechtenstein