Cliff's Notes

Cliff sits down with Tungco's COO Debbie West for an inside look at what it means to step into one of the most demanding seats in a nearly 60-year-old business. Debbie has almost three decades in the tungsten industry and she breaks down the difference between being a director of operations and being a COO, why Project 74 has gone from concept to reality, what the zinc reclaim process actually loo...

Cliff sits down with a longtime friend and one of the most respected names in the scrap recycling industry — Phil Rosenberg, Senior Executive and commercial director of the metals and alloy division at ICD Group. Phil is fifth generation in a family scrap business that traces back to the late 1800s, when his great-great-grandfather arrived in Chicago with nothing and started a rags business that g...

Cliff sits down with Cody Mecham, cutting edge product manager at Vermeer Corporation, for a deep look at what it means to engineer tungsten into ground-engaging tools when the price of that tungsten is hitting levels nobody planned for. Cody oversees all of Vermeer's cutting and digging tooling across HDD, surface mining, wood waste recycling, and vacuum excavation — and he's frank about the tens...

Cliff sits down with Andrew Patterson, milling department manager for Villager Asphalt, to get into the weeds — literally — on how tungsten carbide performs in one of its most demanding real-world applications: asphalt milling. Andrew runs a massive milling operation across the Southeast, consuming boxes of tungsten-tipped teeth every single day, and he breaks down the full picture: how the drum w...

Cliff turns the mic on one of his own — Josh McKnight (Lineage Metallurgical and Cuda Grit). They've shoveled gravel together, worked every corner of the Tungco operation, and now Josh is navigating what might be the strangest sales environment in the company's history: tungsten prices going straight to the stratosphere, quotes that expire in three days, customers starting to explore alternatives,...

Cliff sits down with Bryan Mills of CP Carbide — a California-based, three-generation family business that has been privately sourcing and supplying tungsten carbide wear parts since 1995. Bryan breaks down how his dad's 1988 trip to China started it all, why CP Carbide's private-label model means their name almost never appears on the product, and what it's like to watch tungsten prices hit level...

Cliff sits down with Matt Keske, commodity manager for Wear Tools at Vermeer Corporation — one of the most diversified heavy equipment manufacturers in the world — to talk tungsten, supply chain strategy, and what 30 years inside a company that's a mile long actually looks like. Matt breaks down how AI infrastructure and data center build-outs are quietly driving underground drilling demand, why s...

Cliff sits down with Ashley Hunsaker, co-founder and CEO of HTS Coatings, for one of the most candid conversations about building a business from scratch — eight months pregnant, living in an 800-square-foot house, and saying yes when everyone else was saying no. Ashley breaks down what thermal spray coatings actually do (hint: they're inside the landing gear on the plane you flew here on), how HT...

Cliff sits down with one of Tungco's own — procurement specialist Chris Capps — to talk tungsten markets, trust in volatile times, and what 16-plus years inside a carbide recycling operation actually teaches you. From sorting bits to strategic buying, Chris breaks down why the current tungsten pricing environment is unlike anything the industry has ever seen, and why trust might be the most valuab...

Cliff sits down with Austin Hargett of weld.com to swap stories, talk high-pressure pipe welding for power plants and refineries, and revisit a legendary night on the Sunset Strip that ended at Whisky a Go Go. Austin breaks down what makes weld.com a go-to resource for welders working in the most demanding industrial environments. Equal parts industry insight and "great friend hands you the last d...

Recorded live on the floor at ReMA 2026 in Las Vegas, this special edition of Cliff's Notes officially announces Project 74 — Tungco's Urban Mining Initiative and a landmark partnership with Victor Fox of the Chem-Met Company and Furkhat Faizulla of Syram Corporation, built on one powerful premise: converting domestic tungsten scrap into sodium tungstate, the critical intermediate chemical that ne...

(00:00:00) Introduction from Helsinki (00:01:58) Discussing paternity leave and supporting new parents (00:04:51) Navigating misinformation and building confidence (00:08:00) Brice's career journey: From Florida State to Tungco (00:17:00) NCAA regulations and intentional touchpoints (00:25:02) Starting recruitment early (age 12-13!) (00:27:03) Comparing Tungco's recruitment to Florida State (00:28...

(00:00:00) Introduction (00:03:05) Misfit Social Podcast & Evan's Respect (00:03:31) Basic Carbide: 44 Years of Excellence (00:05:49) The February 2024 Acquisition Story (00:07:53) Sintering Process: From Chalk to Diamond-Hard (00:09:09) Quality Control & Microscopy (00:10:07) Mirror Polish & Complex Geometries (00:12:15) Mutual Respect & Friendship In this heartfelt episode of Cliff's Notes, Clif...

(00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:23) Launching Wolfram Advisory (00:01:17) Current Market Conditions & Supply Challenges (00:01:53) Understanding the Global Tungsten Market (00:02:55) China's Export Controls & Import Surge (00:03:33) Three Theories on Supply Reduction (00:04:31) End-of-Life Mines in China (00:05:00) Cost Curves & Byproduct Production (00:06:41) Future Mining Projects & Solutions (00...

Join Cliff Nance as he sits down with Adam Rubin, Tungco's newly promoted Director of Global Sales & Procurement, for a candid conversation about a birthday milestone, building a career in the tungsten industry, and taking on new leadership challenges. In this episode, Adam opens up about celebrating his 50th birthday, his 26-year journey in the scrap metal industry (starting from a finance ba...

(00:00:00) Introduction & Birthday Celebrations (00:01:59) First Introduction to Tungsten (00:04:37) The Transition from Finance to Purchasing (00:06:27) Why Purchasing Over Finance (00:08:09) Coolest Thing About Tungsten (00:10:50) Closing Thoughts In this episode of Cliff's Notes, Cliff sits down with Tatiana Hainzl, Expert Strategic Raw Materials Purchasing at Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG, to...

Tungco CEO and Owner, Cliff Nance, welcomes industry specialists from across the globe and shares noteworthy insight into the world of everything tungsten. In this episode, Cliff sits down with Ran Maimon, President of Metal-Tech LTD and a master relationship builder with over 30 years in the tungsten industry. As a mentor, friend and trusted partner to Tungco, Ran brings invaluable wisdom on prob...

(00:00:00) The Bucket List and the Boardroom (00:04:45) Between Numbers and Nature (00:08:30) Brotherhood and Banter Tungco CEO and Owner, Cliff Nance, welcomes industry specialists from across the globe and shares noteworthy insight into the world of everything tungsten. Tungco’s own – newly appointed CFO – Ryan Sizemore is the guest on the debut episode. Cliff has his finger on the pulse of what...