China is taking measures to make sure they will be able to supply their domestic tungsten demand; but these measures have a few countries calling foul play.
China’s tungsten market monopoly is often blamed for the metal’s volatility, but in the case of a post-recession rebound, the monopoly appears to be a good thing.
Geodex Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:GXM), (the “Company” or ‘Geodex’) has annouced the appointment of Michael MacLeod, PEng as part of the Company’s board of advisors.
The press release is quoted as saying:
Mr. William Gardiner has resigned as a member of the Company’s advisory board. Geodex thanks him for his valuable insights.
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Since the announcement of restarting tungsten and tin production at Hemerdon in the United Kingdon in 2007, Australian-based Wolf Minerals (ASX: WLF) has big hopes of starting the plan. The Devon mine is believed to be one of the world’s largest sources of tungsten and tin and the plan is possible since Tungsten is in [...]
China has had a long standing monopoly on the tungsten market, and has taken some questionable moves to maintain their domination of the market.
Low demand, low prices, and the break up of the former USSR has led to a collapse in tungsten production. With China soldering on as the predominant tungsten producer in the world, the West is seeking out direct ownership of non-Chinese mines. Where is the fresh supply?
The ferro-tungsten market has been stagnant in recent weeks, with only a handful of transactions taking place. Last Friday, in China, inactivity translated into a dip in prices. Ferro-tungsten fell to $25.90 a kilogram, down from the recent rate of $28.00 per kilogram.
The tungsten market has been quiet for ’09. Ferro-tungsten prices have been slowly creeping up due to short supply, so it is exploration as usual for the tungsten business. Tungsten exploration outside of China is critical, as the country has a monopoly on the metal used for military and aeronautical equipment.
Chinese ferrotungsten export prices have been creeping up since the conclusion of the spring festival in January. Low prices in the fourth quarter of 2008 pushed many key tungsten producers to stop operations. The same miners have announced, that despite the current trend, they do not plan to resume mining and production in short term.
European Ferro tungsten prices crept up for the week as buyers drew down inventories in Rotterdam. For a second week in a row, the Lunar New Year Holiday in China meant lack of supplies were coming out of the country.
Thursday, July 22, 2010