29 May, 2026 14:35:15 IST 
Luxembourg-based hard materials and cutting tools maker, Ceratizit Group, has said its parent Plansee Group will form a joint venture with Manhattan Five Partners LLC to establish a strategic tungsten oxide stockpile in the United States, aimed at securing domestic supply of the critical mineral and reducing reliance on foreign sources.
The Plansee Group consists of the Plansee and Ceratizit business areas. Plansee Holding AG is the parent company of the Plansee Group and is fully owned by the Flatlake Private Foundation with headquarters in Austria. The group’s supply of raw materials is covered by Global Tungsten & Powders or GTP (for tungsten) and Molibdenos y Metales (for molybdenum).
Plansee US Holding Corp. and Manhattan Five will structure their joint venture with a division of responsibilities: Plansee will contribute its industrial and technological leadership in tungsten oxide processing, while Manhattan Five — which brings expertise in structuring, financing and managing large-scale infrastructure platforms — will oversee warehousing, logistics infrastructure and long-term asset management.
As part of the initiative, Plansee intends to expand tungsten oxide production capacity at its facility in Towanda, Pennsylvania - operated through GTP, a division of Ceratizit - to approximately 12,000 tonnes per year. Initial deliveries are expected to begin in 2026. A significant portion of production will support a strategic reserve intended to serve government, defence and critical industry demand.
Ceratizit said the initiative reinforces its supply chain positioning, which is built on a fully integrated tungsten value chain spanning powder to finished tools. The GTP division plays a central role in this model, strengthening processing, recycling and traceability capabilities. The company operates with a recycling rate of approximately 90% for tungsten, with scrap collected and sorted by subsidiary Stadler Raw Materials and processed at GTP facilities in the US and Finland.
