Tungsten is a very strong and inert metal that is of significant economic importance due to its use in tungsten carbide for the mining and automotive industries, and as tungsten alloys for defence and energy applications. The substitution of tungsten in such materials is difficult or impossible. as evidenced in recent times, geopolitical factors acutely impact the supply of tungsten and as a result, tungsten has been listed as a critical metal in australia and all other western jurisdictions. australia has the second highest tungsten reserves worldwide (~13 per cent) and three operating mines producing tungsten concentrate, but despite this significant position in the upstream portion of the tungsten supply chain, we currently possess no value-adding, downstream processing capacity. as part of the australian Critical Minerals Research and Development Hub, a collaboration between aNSTO, Geoscience australia and CSIRO, and funded by the australian Government, a program to investigate Technology Metals Production australia led by CSIRO is being undertaken. as part of this wider program is a dedicated project investigating the downstream processing of australian tungsten concentrates through to tungsten metal. aNSTO is investigating hydrometallurgical routes to produce saleable tungsten intermediate chemical concentrates and metallisation precursors. The project commenced with a literature review which identified three hydrometallurgical routes used in industry to produce an intermediate tungsten product. an autoclave alkali leach was identified as the most used approach due to its applicability to a wide range of concentrates, but this processing technology is less than ideal with respect to water balance issues, reagent consumption, ability to handle various impurities etc. The work to be presented will include a comparison of the industrial process routes, their relative pros and cons, the issues with their application to the processing of australian concentrates, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.