Over the past four years, the price of tungsten has surged from $4 per pound to over $14 per pound.

By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

Tungsten applications show a strong future outlook

The surge has been due to China’s monopoly of the market. China currently produces roughly 85 per cent of the world’s tungsten, and has recently begun to restrict foreign access to the tungsten it produces.

With China hoarding its production for its own growth, the rest of the world is scrambling to find new sources of supply, as prices move upwards. In China, the Ministry of Commerce issues product export quotas for the domestic companies. International companies have been at the mercy of these quotas. For example, the second quota released in 2008 allocated 10785.55 tonnes of tungsten in a variety of forms, down 10.2 per cent when compared with last year’s first batch of quotas. 

Over the past year, the price of tungsten has undergone even more price fluctuations due to allegations that China was suspected of ”smuggling” exports to European countries. Tungsten Carbonate is the second hardest natural material on earth, is corrosion resistant, does not break down or decompose, and of all metals, has the highest melting point and tensile strength. Given its unique physical attributes, tungsten has many applications in which it is virtually irreplaceable, including light bulbs and electrical applications, and as a super alloy used in the mining, petroleum, military, construction and metalworking industries. Calcium and magnesium tungstates are widely used in fluorescent lighting; other salts of tungsten are used in the chemical and tanning industries.

Other company news

North American Tungsten Corporation Ltd. (TSX. V: NTC) continues to intersect high-grade tungsten mineralization at depth of its Cantung Mine.  The drilling program successfully identified high grade tungsten mineralization down to the 3400ft level, approximately 300ft below the current lowest mine level workings (3700 level). The aim of the Q3/08 drill program is to further define the high grade tungsten zone for inclusion in an updated National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate and mine development plan.

Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd.  (TSX.V: KHT) has entered into two option agreements to acquire 100 per cent interest in the Achtung Tungsten Project located in northwestern British Columbia, and the Birdtung Tungsten-Tin Project located in the southern Yukon. With these, Yankee Hat now has eight tungsten projects at varying stages of development, and one of the most active tungsten exploration programs in the Western World.

The first concentrates of tungsten and molybdenum have been produced from the historic Wolfram Camp mine, west of Dimbulah on Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands. Wolfram Camp has been producing wolframite since the 1890s, and was closed down in the 1980s when the commodity price crashed. Queensland Ores Limited has taken over the mine and will soon commission a metal treatment plant, allowing the mine to swing back into full commercial production.

According to Managing Director Taff Greenwood, the company aims to produce 1000 tonnes of tungsten concentrate and 80 tonnes of molybdenum concentrate in the first year.

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