Tungco owner and CEO Cliff Nance returned to The Lars Larson Show on October 27, 2026 to talk about one of the most pressing questions in American industry: how the U.S. breaks China’s grip on the critical minerals that power its military, its technology, and everyday life.
Lars Larson introduced Cliff as a critical minerals expert whose company specializes in tungsten. The conversation covered government investment in domestic mining, new accountability measures for taxpayer dollars, China’s response, and the defense sourcing deadline that is now months away.
Tungsten and American military strength
Cliff was direct about what’s at stake. “We can’t have American military superiority with a Chinese-controlled critical raw material where they control the supply chain,” he said. “Tungsten’s critical to weapon systems, aerospace, defense, chips. It’s just really not possible to have all those things without us securing this critical raw material.”
Accountability for taxpayer investment
Lars, a self-described skeptic of government subsidies, asked whether public money is needed to restart domestic mining. Cliff pointed to federal commitments to tungsten projects, including a Nevada mine slated for relaunch. He said the current approach is building in more accountability, including the government taking equity stakes in some investments.
“It builds in better accountability to the people that are doing the investment,” Cliff said, “and makes sure that we’re getting the return that is there as a taxpayer, not just writing checks to be spent.”
China is paying attention
Cliff said China is already responding to America’s push for supply chain independence. “We see that in the tungsten world with some of the decisions that they’re making now,” he said. “They’re already playing some games with predatory pricing on the downstream finished product.”
Lars noted that price undercutting only strengthens the case for domestic production. Cliff agreed: “You are exactly right. Hit the nail on the head.”
The DFARS deadline
Cliff closed with a reminder for the defense industrial base. Under upcoming DFARS rules, U.S. defense systems must be free of Chinese-sourced tungsten starting next year. Commercial and industrial users may still use some Chinese components. Defense may not.
“That’s a mountaintop, really, that we have to get over to make sure that we’ve got security on our defense side,” he said.
Why it matters beyond defense
“The average consumer just does not understand how much [these materials] go into us having the modern lives that we have today,” Cliff said. “They’re called critical for a reason. They are critical for every aspect of our life.”
Pull quote: “They’re called critical for a reason. They are critical for every aspect of our life.” — Cliff Nance, Owner & CEO, Tungco
About Cliff Nance
Cliff Nance is the owner and CEO of Tungco, a Kentucky-based tungsten recycling company. He speaks on critical raw materials, tungsten supply chain security, defense sourcing requirements, and rebuilding America’s domestic manufacturing base. He is a returning guest on The Lars Larson Show.
Media inquiries: To book Cliff Nance for an interview or commentary on critical minerals and tungsten, contact Adam Howell at [email protected].
