Tungsten

Content maintained by Aden McKay

• Tungsten
• Resources
• Exploration
• Production
• Industry Developments

Tungsten (W) metal and its alloys are amongst the hardest of all metals. It occurs as wolframite, (Fe,Mn)WO4, and scheelite, CaWO4. Tungsten carbide has a hardness approaching that of diamond and is used for cutting and wear-resistant materials primarily in the metalworking, mining, oil drilling and construction industries. Tungsten alloys are used also in electrodes, filaments for light bulbs, wires and components for electrical, heating, lighting, and welding applications.

Australia's total EDR at December 2007 was 75.1 kt W. China has the world's largest resources of tungsten with approximately 62%. Other nations with large resources include Canada and Russia.

There was virtually no exploration for tungsten in Australia between 1980 and the end of 2004. Tungsten prices have risen substantially since 2004, with the price more than doubling in 2005. The average scheelite ore concentrate price for the past 12 months was US$212 (A$249) per metric tonne unit (1 mtu = 10 kg), with a high of US$222 (A$260). In response to these rises, a number of companies started exploring and evaluating old tungsten mines and deposits, mainly in north Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania.

King Island Scheelite Ltd continued with its preparatory work on various aspects of construction, including provision of infrastructure, procurement of materials and installation of mining services on its King Island tungsten deposit. The company is forming a joint venture with the Chinese Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation. The global resources at a cut-off grade of 0.25% WO3 down to 308m below sea level have been reported as indicated resources of 13.2 million t averaging 0.64% WO3 and inferred resources of 0.2 200,000 t averaging 0.35% WO3.

Vital Metals Limited continued exploration at the Watershed project 25 km north east of Mt Carbine mine in far north Queensland. The resources at a cut-off grade of WO3 were reported as indicated resources of 1.59 million t averaging 0.27% WO3 and inferred resources of 20.2 million t averaging 0.26% WO3.

With two mining leases granted, Queensland Ores Ltd has started construction of the mine site and a treatment facility at its Wolfram Camp tungsten-molybdenum project, 90 km west of Cairns, in north Queensland. Wolframite and molybdenite mineralisation occur in high grade quartz pipes and as disseminated lower grade mineralisation surrounding these pipes. Mineralisation is within granite and is adjacent to the margins of the granitic body where it intrudes into sediments. The resources were reported as measured resources of 598,200 t averaging 0.42% WO3 and 0.17% MoS2, indicated resources of 111,500 t averaging 0.41% WO3 and inferred resources of 238,300 t averaging 0.4% WO3 and 0.2% MoS2. The first shipment of concentrates is scheduled for July 2008.

Stonehenge Metals Ltd commenced exploration at the Interview River deposit in northwest Tasmania. Several high-grade tungsten-tin bearing veins with a combined strike length of 2.5 km occur within the youngest intrusive phase of the Interview Granite.

Wolf Minerals Ltd acquired the total rights from Graynic Metals to tungsten mineralisation at Yanco Glen, located 35 km north of Broken Hill in western New South Wales. The previous tenement holder identified an inferred resource of 830,000 t grading 0.21% WO3.

Peel Exploration Limited began exploration on the Attunga Prospect 1 scheelite deposit, near Tamworth, New South Wales. Mineralisation of the deposit, which is in a northerly plunging pipe, occurs within skarn and crystalline marble developed at the contact of a lime-rich sequence with the Inlet Monazite.

Thor Mining PLC reported a resource of 3.73 million t grading 0.51% combined tungsten (WO3) and molybdenum (MoS2) for its Molyhil project in the Northern Territory. The proven and probable reserves, which total 2.15 million t grading 0.49% WO3 and 0.22% MoS2, comprised 456 kt of proven ore grading 0.47% WO3 and 0.30% MoS2 and 1.69 million t of probable ore grading 0.49% WO3 and 0.20% MoS2. The company has signed an off-take agreement with CITIC Australia Commodity Trading Pty Ltd which is part of CITIC Group, one of China's largest State-owned companies, to take 100% of the tungsten and molybdenum concentrates produced from the Molyhil Project. Approval for a proposed 5.7 year mine-life for the project is expected in mid 2008.

Australia's only producing tungsten mine in 2007 was Kara scheelite mine near Hampshire in northwest Tasmania. It produced 17 t of scheelite concentrates averaging approximately 55% WO3, representing 9.35 t contained WO3. Scheelite and magnetite were produced from magnetite-pyroxene skarn within folded Ordovician limestone that is in contact with Devonian granite.

World production of tungsten totalled 89.6 t in 2007, and was dominated by China which in recent years accounted for more than 80% of primary tungsten output. Other large producers were Russia and Canada. In recent years the Chinese Government took steps to regulate production and control the release of Chinese tungsten on to the world market. The lack of supplies of tungsten concentrates from China, together with increased demand in China and elsewhere, have resulted in higher prices since 2005.