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. One producer commented, “There has been a lack of buying activity and there’s no sign that we’ll see a recovery.” Tungsten prices in the United States remain unchanged, but market sources agree lack of purchases could drive down prices. Last October, the price of tungsten took a dive. As a result, in China, an estimated 80 per cent of producers curbed output.

With the promotion of major infrastructure projects around the world, the tungsten market could see a reversal back to previous trends.  The tungsten market is volatile, with a few key players controlling the market share.  In infrastructure development needs tungsten, then prices could be in for a wild ride; especially considering the level of output cuts in the industry.

China’s Jiangxi Ganzhou City has earmarked US $260 million to procure tungsten and rare earth products. Ganzhou will buy 10,000 tonnes of scheelite and tungsten products, and 10,000 tonnes of rare-earth ore to help metal firms struggling on the back of the commodities price collapse. Ganzhou, a city in eastern China’s Jiangxi Province, and the world’s largest tungsten making region, is building up its own tungsten and rare earth reserves. China’s State Reserves Bureau has been buying various metals, including copper, aluminum, zinc and nickel.

A new, large deposit of tungsten ore has been discovered in east China’s Anhui Province.  With a proved reserve of 96,200 tonnes, the finding in Qimen County is an important one for the country as only 144,000 tonnes of tungsten ore have been found between 2001 and 2007. China’s tungsten reserves are mainly in the provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi and Henan, which jointly account for 61.37 per cent of the total national reserve. China, along with Russia, Canada and the United States, is a major tungsten producer in the world. It holds 40.5 per cent of the world’s proved reserves.

Company News

Largo Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: LGO) has acquired a 70 per cent interest in the Northern Dancer property in Yukon Territory. Largo has the option to earn the remaining 30 per cent  interest in the property by making a cash payment of $5,000,000 or issuing the equivalent value in shares of the company within twelve months. Northern Dancer hosts widespread tungsten-molybdenum porphyry style mineralization. The updated mineral resource for the deposit at a cut-off grade of 0.06 per cent WO3 is estimated as measured mineral resources of 30.8 million tonnes grading 0.114 per cent WO3 and 0.030 per cent Mo, indicated mineral resources of 192.6 million tonnes grading 0.100 per cent WO3 and 0.029 per cent Mo. The measured and indicated mineral resource estimate contains 226.9 k tonnes of WO3 and 65.2 k tonnes of Mo. Inferred mineral resources were estimated to be 201.2 million tonnes grading 0.089 per cent WO3 and 0.024 per cent Mo containing 178.3 k tonnes WO3 and 48.9 k tonnes of Mo.

Zijin Mining Group’s profits increased by 20.32 per cent YoY, while it’s operating revenue grew by 11.32 per cent on an annual basis.  The company has attributed the rise in both net profit and operating revenue to increased output of its major products, as well as higher prices. Zijin Mining produced 57.32 tonnes of gold last year, 16.26 per cent higher than the previous year; it also produced 61,409 tonnes of copper in concentrate form increasing by 29.98 per cent from the previous year.  Due to production cutbacks after zinc prices plummeted in the second half of last year, its output of zinc in concentrate form decreased by 25.1 per cent year on year to 33,680 tonnes and its zinc ingot production dropped 11.18 per cent year on year to 101,437 tonnes.

By the end of 2008, Zijin Mining held a total of 701.5 tonnes of gold reserves, 1,700 tonnes of silver reserves, 9.64 million tonnes of copper reserves, 390,000 tonnes of moly reserves, 5.28 million tonnes of lead and zinc reserves, 100,000 tons of tungsten reserves, 151 tons of platinum and palladium reserves, 100,000 tonnes of tin reserves, 667,500 tonnes of nickel reserves, 168 million tonnes of iron ore reserves, 43.97 million tonnes of bauxite reserves, and 300 million tonnes of coal reserves. The company’s planned production for 2009 includes 4,556 tonnes of tungsten concentrate. In addition, Zijin Mining has also revealed its intention to acquire mineral resources due to currently low commodity prices.

By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

Chinese ferro tungsten 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. A local ferro tungsten producer said that “We expect a further rise before our restart. The restart time may be March when the weather is fine for mining.” Traders said prices of ferro tungsten in Europe crept up for the second week running as lack of new supplies from China reinforced a dearth of material in Rotterdam. China’s steel industry is starting to ramp up production in anticipation of infrastructure spending; considering tungsten is already in short supply, this has the potential to positively influence the metal’s price.

China, who holds a monopoly on the supply of tungsten, churned out 84,470 tonnes of tungsten concentrates last year.  This figure was up by 5.01 per cent YoY; however the figure shows a 10.71 per cent contraction MoMo, December 2008 vs. December 2007. In 2008, yield of tungsten concentrates in Hunan Province dropped 10.86 per cent YoY to 27,590 tonnes accounting for 32.7 per cent of the total output while it in Jiangxi Province has notched up by 5.52 per cent YoY to 39,306 tonnes which takes up 46.5 per cent of the total. The whole tonnages in Hunan and Jiangxi contributed as high as 79.2 per cent to the state annual production of tungsten concentrates.

North American Tungsten Corporation Ltd (TSX.V:NTC), the Western World’s largest producer of tungsten concentrate, has announced results for the three months ending Dec. 31, 2008, (their first quarter). For the First Quarter, North American Tungsten had net earnings of $4.92 million, or 4 cents per share. Sales revenues in the First Quarter were $17.6 million – a 49.7 per cent increase over the first three months of 2008. The gross operating margin increased from a loss of $2 million in Q1 2008 to earnings of $3.8 million in the First Quarter. During the First Quarter, the company generated revenues from sales of both tungsten concentrates and ammonium paratungstate (APT) that was processed from concentrates. The net earnings comprised of $1.8 million before the dilution gain. The dilution gain of $3.1 million was realized from the company’s reorganisation of its subsidiary Tungsten Diversified Industries, LLC (formerly Tungsten Joint Venture, LLC).

During the First Quarter, North American Tungsten released a national iInstrument compliant report on updated reserves and resources for the Cantung mine. Subsequent to the first quarter, the company also released its bankable feasibility study for the Mactung property – one of the world’s largest known undeveloped tungsten deposits. Indicated mineral resources at Mactung are estimated at 33 million tonnes grading .88 per cent WO3. Underground indicated mineral reserves have been calculated at 8.2 million tonnes grading 1.09 per cent WO3.  Mactung’s estimated pre-tax net present value is $277 million.

Malaga Inc. has signed supply agreement with Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. for the sale of its tungsten ore concentrates produced by the company’s subsidiary at Pasto Bueno mine, Huaura plant in Peru. The supply agreement provides for a monthly minimum quantity of tungsten ore to be acquired by Global Tungsten from Malaga until February 2014.  Malaga  is to pay, in advance, a sum of $1.2 million within thirty days of the execution of the supply agreement, to be applied against Malaga’s invoices over the last concentrates delivered by February 2014. As part of the deal, Global Tungsten will finance Malaga for an amount of $3.8 million, through the issuance by Malaga to Global Tungsten of 5-year convertible secured promissory notes.

Sandvik has reached an agreement to acquire Wolfram Bergbau- und Hütten-GmbH Nfg KG (WBH), an Austrian producer and supplier of tungsten products. The acquisition is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2009, after approval by relevant anti trust authorities. WBH operates a refining plant for producing tungsten carbide, including a chemical plant for recycling tungsten material, at St Martin in Austria, and a mine and ore dressing plant at Mittersill in Austria.  WBH is active within the tungsten industry since 1975 and offers tungsten carbide and tungsten metal powders. The acquisition of WBH is of long-term strategic importance for Sandvik.

Mr. Anders Thelin president of Sandvik Tooling said that “This acquisition complements and strengthens our business. WBH will bring know-how, technology and capacity for world class production and recycling of tungsten carbide. It provides us with resources to manage the entire production process, from ore to finished cemented carbide powder. In this way we will be able to further strengthen our raw material supply and develop our business and customer offering.”

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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. Ferro Tungsten was quoted higher at around US$30 a kg from US$29 a kg last week and US$25 a kg the week before, as consumer enquiries for the metal were met with empty hands. Chinese producers are closed and they will stay closed until after the holiday next week.

Once the New Year holiday is over, Chinese production will resume but cutbacks and plant closures are expected to continue.  Overall, traders said there was very little business being done and they do not expect to see a real recovery until the second half of the year.  The selling prices of tungsten ammonium paratungstate (APT) have remained steady between US$235 and US$245 per metric tonne unit during the same period. The outlook for tungsten in the long term continues to be optimistic with increased demand expected in the coming year.

Christopher Anderson shares an optimistic view on the tungsten industry’s future. As the vice-president of business development for Geodex Minerals Ltd. (TSX.V: GXM), Anderson helped host a recent industry meet-and-greet to get investors hyped up about the metal. Geodex has been working a tungsten deposit at its Sisson Brook property near Fredericton, which executives hope will one day be among the largest and least expensive open-pit tungsten mines in the world. The company took a break from drilling last fall due to lack of credit and instead invested their time and money into mineralogical studies. Anderson said market factors will not impede Geodex from moving forward. “We are cashed up and we have got a great deposit.” Experts predict commodity prices won’t inch up much before the end of 2009, however, mining is anticipated to be one of the first industries to rebound from the economic crisis.

Company news

Uran Limited (ASX:URA)  has entered into an option to purchase the Victor tungsten project, in California. The project, located in the historic tungsten mining District of Inyo County consists of 13 granted patented lode mining claims, covering a small, high-grade tungsten mine. Uran, through its wholly owned subsidiary Juno Minerals, has paid an option fee of $50,000 under the terms of the agreement, and has the right to acquire a 100 per cent stake in the property, by paying $150,000, within two years. The Victor project was mined for tungsten and copper prior to World War I, and briefly after World War II, however, the planned construction of a tungsten mill on the property failed when the government price support program for tungsten ended in the early 1950s.There has been no work done on the property since that time. Assay results have now been received for 19 rock chip samples, taken in October, and most samples evaluated have shown copper and tungsten values, with elevated uranium and molybdenum values, as well as anomalous gold and silver. Uran stated that the mineralized skarns at Victor, which were not exploited by historic mining, had significant potential to host economic tungsten and copper. Exploration on the project would be deferred until work at Juno Minerals’ other project, the Finley basin in Montana, was completed, and economic conditions improved.

Thor Mining PLC recently announced that developing the Molyhill tungsten-molybdenum project remains the company’s main focus.  Thor has met with many potential financiers and partners with a view to getting the project into operation.” The discussions have been very positive to date, however the mood is cautious in the current financial climate, “the group said in an update for the quarter to end-December 2008. Investigation of alternatives to reduce capital and operating costs for the project continue.

New ammunition application to benefit tungsten market

By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

Holiday retail sales were worse than anticipated. The retail industry’s leading trade group blamed a deep recession, severe winter weather and five fewer shopping days for a 2.8 per cent drop in sales. The National Retail Federation had originally forecast holiday sales for the combined November-December shopping months to grow 2.2 per cent, which would still have been the weakest pace of gain in at least six years.  The jewellery market was hardest hit, luxury goods sales were down as much as 34 per cent. However, the new Tungsten jewelry market faired exceptionally well over this holiday season. Titanium-Jewelry.com, a leading online retailer of men’s wedding bands, tungsten rings, titanium rings and unique contemporary jewellery designs for men and women, announced today that its 2008 holiday season sales increased by 16 per cent from last year.  The company accounts for the rise as a result of “exceptional customer service” and continual advances in tungsten jewelry.  Tungsten designs are appealing to many for their unique style, and, they are far cheaper than traditional gold and platinum.  With everyone counting their pennies these days, the tungsten jewelry market may likely witness and exceptional year.

The Central Government of China has revised from the January 1 of 2009 the value-added tax to be imposed on imports of raw materials for production of ferroalloys. This revision is applied to 82 items of raw materials and the value-added tax has been raised from 13 per ton to 17 per tonne. Raw materials for the production of tungsten ore are included in this price hike. The value-added tax is also imposed on transactions of ores produced in China and this rate has been raised from 13 per cent to 17 per cent. This is expected to have a significant impact on already struggling companies in China.  There is already talk that these companies may appeal to the Chinese Government for tax breaks that will offset the fee hike.

Company news

A new company, Tundra Particle Diversified Industries LLC, will produce and market tungsten-polymer composite to be used as a replacement for lead in environmentally friendlier ammunition. The company has been formed by a joint venture between North American Tungsten Corp. (TSX.V:NTC), and Tundra Particle Technologies LLC of White Bear Lake, Minn., and Queenwood Capital Partners of Bloomington, Minn. Tundra Diversified Industries is negotiating to supply tungsten-polymer composite to Fiocchi Ammunition, aiming to hit the ballistics marketplace in the first quarter of 2009.The tungsten-plastic composite material is described as being non-toxic, as malleable as lead, and denser than lead and bismuth. As a result, North American Tungsten “will have a significant outlet for lower-grade concentrate” from its Cantung mine in the western Northwest Territories and Mactung development project in eastern Yukon. Under the agreement, North American Tungsten will provide Tundra Diversified Industries with 22,500 metric tons of tungsten concentrate next year, increasing to 225,000 tonnes by 2013 at “market-driven prices.”

Ormonde Mining has reported ‘excellent’ results from the last seven holes of its current infill drilling programme at its Barruecopardo Tungsten Project in Salamanca, Spain. The company says the results indicate that the deposit could sustain a much higher production rate than initially proposed. Ormonde says that prices of tungsten concentrates are expected to remain buoyant for the long term. The company has also decided to adopt a 400,000 tonnes per year production rate for the project, up from the previously 200,000 tonnes for the completion of technical studies at Barruecopardo. It said that these higher throughput levels should lead to greater returns on a future mining

Adex Mining Inc. (TSX.V:ADE) is pleased to announce the completion of a mineralogy characterization test program for the recovery and extraction of tungsten, molybdenum, tin and indium at the Company’s Mount Pleasant Mine Property in southwestern New Brunswick. The property hosts two mineralized zones: the tungsten-molybdenum bearing Fire Tower Zone)and the tin-indium bearing North Zone The mineralogy characterization test program was undertaken with the purpose of assisting the Company to develop and validate a metallurgical process for optimum metal recovery from the Properties .

Shenzhen, the Chinese city that accounts for 60 per cent of China’s total annual exports, is witnessing declining demand for tungsten.

In 2007, the latest year for which industry data is available, it shipped $23 million worth of tungsten carbide powder and alloy jewelry. Last year, Shenzhen was estimated to export just $18.4 million worth, a reduction of 25 per cent. There are a few factors that have caused this, one being the global market slump.  Perhaps, though China’s efforts to control the tungsten industry are backfiring on its own local businesses.

China has an overwhelming monopoly on the market; an estimated 85 per cent of world tungsten thirst is quenched by China.  China has taken steps in the past to make sure that they are in control of this metal prized for its hardness, and used in military applications.  China has been accused of dumping; flooding the markets with tungsten as global suppliers come online; and, when China feels its stranglehold on the industry is strong enough, and they have been accused of price gauging. Now, with the entire world in a slump, and not enough demand on the domestic market, the country should been keen to export all they can.

Company news

Sultan Minerals Inc. has received the 12-month environmental base study completed by tWardrop Engineering Inc. The study was carried out over its Jersey-Emerald property, located 10 km south of the community of Salmo in southeastern BC. The report represents another milestone in Sultan’s efforts to expedite the re-opening of this historic tungsten and lead-zinc producer. The report documents an aquatic environmental baseline study conducted for Sultan in and around the Jersey-Emerald property from August 2007 to July 2008. The study was conducted in support of a proposal for future certification under the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act to provide a basis for assessing the potential effects of the project on the aquatic environment. The study included sampling stations located over and adjacent to the historic mine.In May 2007, a NI 43-101 scoping study completed by Wardrop demonstrated that the Jersey-Emerald Tungsten deposits could support a potentially commercial 1,100 t/day mining operation at a tungsten APT price of $244/MTU. The price of tungsten has since remained relatively stable with the current average price being $246/MTU for APT concentrate as of December 10, 2008. The report suggested that the economics of the operation would be substantially improved by expanding the tungsten resource with additional diamond drilling in order to justify a 2,000 t/day operation. Sultan has since completed approximately 20,000 meters of diamond drilling in 87 diamond drill holes and is awaiting results of an updated tungsten resource estimate the updated NI 43-101 compliant resource report is expected to be available in early January. Assays are pending for samples from a program of trenching and surface prospecting recently completed over the south end of the Jersey-Emerald property. A large tungsten and lead-zinc soil anomaly centered 3.0 km south of the historic mine suggests there is good potential for additional new discoveries on this 9,300 hectare property.

North Bay Resources has signed a contract with Hidalgo Mining International Inc. to engage in a joint-venture for the development of North Bay’s Gold Hill Project in British Columbia, Canada. Terms of the agreement call for Hidalgo to commit up to $1.25 million USD over three years for developmental drilling and surface ore recovery. North Bay and Hidalgo will each own 50 per cent of the Gold Hill Project and will equally share any and all net revenue, including any near-term profits generated from surface ore recovery operations. The Gold Hill mine’s past production averaged over 29.47 grams per tonne gold and 54.11 grams per tonne silver, while production figures from the Silver Dollar and the Lucky Boy workings averaged 9.39 grams per tonne gold and 335 grams per tonne silver. More recent exploration has outlined an extended strike length of over 2600 meters, with reported assays from underground workings grading as high as 57.81 grams per tonne gold and 3790 grams per tonne silver. Recent drilling programs on properties immediately adjacent to the north and the west of Gold Hill in the 2007-2008 exploration season intersected significant levels of tungsten and molybdenum.

The bear market has influenced tungsten prices

By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

Tungsten, like all other metals, has seen a large amount of its value lost in the 2008 market crash. 

Some stability though has been lent to tungsten metal due to the fact that China has a monopoly on the market.  China has curbed output to coincide with the price collapse, and this has lent some stability.  A minor metal that has received more attention recently, Research and Markets has announced the addition of the Tungsten Market Review report to their offering. This report focuses on the study of the global tungsten markets. It provides region analysis on tungsten production. It features major tungsten producers, prices, supply and demand conditions, international trade, etc. The review also includes future outlook of the world tungsten market.

Company news

Golden Predator Mines Inc. (TSX: GP) reports that David Cole has resigned from the board of directors and has accepted the position as a member of its Technical Advisory Board. Golden Predator is a tungsten and gold mining company focused on mineral development in Nevada and surrounding states. The company intends to augment its position in the domestic tungsten business through high grade gold development and production. Its current principal project is the Springer Facility, a 1,000 ton per day mine and mill complex built by the General Electric Company between 1979 and 1982. While it had a 13-year mine life at time of construction, GE only operated the facility for eight months when it ceased production in 1982 and placed Springer on care and maintenance due to falling tungsten prices. Golden Predator is in the process of re-commissioning the mill, and when completed, it will be the only operational tungsten mill in the United States

Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: HPY)  has received promising results from a rock sampling program on its 100% owned Fox tungsten-molybdenum property, in British Columbia, Canada. The rock sampling was a follow up to drilling in 2007 that confirmed a large scale tungsten-molybdenum system approximately 1.5 kilometers by 500 meters in dimension. The first-ever, widely spaced drilling returned several potentially economic intercepts including 5.0 meters of 0.33 per cent WO3 (tungsten trioxide), 2.0 meters of 0.74 per cent WO3, and 1.7 meters of 0.51per cent molybdenum. On surface, blocks of this material have returned up to 12.778 per cent molybdenum and 5.65 per cent WO3. The 2008 exploration of the Ridley Creek area, located approximately four kilometers north of the Nightcrawler zone, comprised geology, prospecting and silt and soil geochemical surveys that detailed and expanded upon the positive 2007 soil and rock results. In addition to tungsten, rock sampling in 2008 also returned up to 0.19% molybdenum from quartz veins within the quartz monzonite intrusion. Tungsten, and the presence of molybdenum in quartz veins within an intrusion very similar in age to the Boss Mountain, supports the Company’s view that a porphyry style bulk tonnage molybdenum-tungsten deposit is responsible for the mineralization.

Brett Resources Inc. (TSX.V: BBR) is pleased to report drill results from eight holes on the Hammond Reef Property in Ontario, Canada. Highlights from these holes include hole BR-113 with 154 meters of 1.21 g/t Au. Brett’s President and CEO Patrick Soares commented, “Brett continues to build on its drilling success at Hammond Reef. Step-out drilling south-east of Mitta Lake verifies the resource block model which predicts that thick mineralized gold lenses plunge gently to the north-east. Southwest of Mitta Lake, drilling verifies the presence of thick gold mineralized lenses that start near surface and reach a depth of approximately 300 meters below surface. These results are also consistent with the resource model that indicated that 97 percent of the 4.8 million ounce resource lies within 300 meters of surface.” The Company filed its NI- 43-101 report with SEDAR.

If China curbs tungsten supply, will prices stabilize?

By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

Tungsten, like all other metals has witnessed a precipitous price drop.  Data coming out of China, producers of around 85 per cent of the world’s tungsten, shows that most of the Chinese Ferro-tungsten makers have either shut down or decreased output.

Most producers are confident that the low for the metal used in military applications is only for the short term. With China having such a monopoly on the market a ubiquitous output slash may stabilize the price. The future, however, remains unclear.  We have seen an unprecedented amount of mine shutdowns in the other metals, all to no avail at controlling the quick drop in prices.

Company news

Newcrest Mining may limit gold extraction at Australia’s largest gold mine, the Telfer mine, and instead turn its focus to mining a nearby tungsten deposit.  Newcrest was debating selling the O’Callaghans deposit but will instead look into mining it, fundamentally changing the production profile of the big Pilbara mine. The intention to develop the O’Callaghans deposit comes as Newcrest tries to cut costs and debates plans flagged three months ago regarding selling the deposit. Newcrest believes that by extracting the tungsten they could appreciably boost revenues.

“We mainly consider O’Callaghans as a way we can configure Telfer to push it further down the cost curve for the long term,” company President Smith said yesterday after the company’s annual meeting in Melbourne. “The Chinese have restricted exports of tungsten so there is a restriction in supply points around the world.” Resource project buyers have lost their appetite over the past three months as global markets have gone into meltdown, but Smith said Newcrest would still sell at the right price. To mine O’Callaghans, which also contains copper, lead and zinc, the plant at Telfer would need to cut back on ore from the main pit, meaning reduced gold production of up to 10 per cent. A timetable for developing the deposit, which was only discovered about five months ago, is expected to be revealed later this year with a resource statement.

Golden Predator Mines Inc. (TSX:GP) will receive CDN $1 million plus accrued interest from Midway Gold Corp. pursuant to amendment and early repayment of a loan facility provided by the Company to Midway earlier this year. On July 17, 2008, Golden Predator and Midway Gold Corp. announced that the two companies entered into a term sheet describing the principal terms of a proposed business combination. On September 15, 2008 the term sheet expired and the business combination did not proceed. Pursuant the term sheet, Golden Predator agreed to provide a loan facility of $5 million to Midway that could be drawn in installments of $1 million. On August 28, 2008 Golden Predator advanced $2 million of the facility to Midway. In exchange for the advance, Midway issued a promissory maturing with interest at prime plus 2 per cent on July 16, 2009.Golden Predator and Midway have mutually agreed to release each other from all matters related to the Term Sheet and Midway has agreed to pre-pay Golden Predator $1,000,000 of the loan amount advanced, together with accrued interest.
Oriental Minerals Inc. (TSX.V: OTL), has negotiated a deferment of the $1.2 million vendor payment obligation on the Sangdong tungsten-molybdenum project in South Korea.  The payment due November 30, 2008, has now been deferred to April 30, 2009. Ian Fodie, Oriental Minerals’ President and CEO said, “We are very grateful to Sangdong’s vendor,  Sim, for his continued support of Oriental Minerals during these challenging times in the capital markets.  This deferment gives us more flexibility as we move toward the completion of the Sangdong PEA.”

Growth in tungsten industry will be fueled by military needs

By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

The tungsten market is witnessing consistent growth as development around the globe in  defense, civil and war industries are using up all the tungsten supplies they can get their hands on.

Asia Pacific represents the largest and fastest growing portion on the market.  End users largely depend on China, which represents over 85 per cent of the worldwide tungsten supply. China is also the largest stockpile for tungsten in the world, accounting for over 55 per cent of the world’s reserves. Of late, China has significantly reduced tungsten export due to its growing domestic requirements and restrictions on exports of certain metals; therefore, growth of the tungsten market depends largely on new discoveries and explorations on the international scene. The tungsten market is anticipated to cross 45,000 metric tonnes by the time 2010 rolls out. By the time 2012 hits, the tungsten market is projected to reach 91,000 tonnes.

Company news

Oriental Minerals (TSX-V:OTL)has arranged a non-brokered private placement of 1 million units at US$0.10 each. Each unit represents one common share, and one half a purchase warrant, with each warrant exercisable into US$0.20 for 12 months from the closing date of the private placement. The placee is Longview Capital Partners (LCP), Oriental Minerals’ largest shareholder.  With this additional placement, LCP shareholding in the company has increased to 19.1 per cent.  Oriental minerals will use the proceeds from this private placement as its working capital.  At present, the company is moving toward the completion of final elements of the preliminary economic assessment on the Sandong Tungsten- molybdenum project in South Korea.

North American Tungsten Corp (TSX-V:NTC) has entered into a strategic supply agreement with Global Tungsten and Powders Corp (GTC) for the contractual sale of a significant amount of the company’s tungsten concentrate production. Starting immediately, the agreement will run for12 months with 125,000 mtu’s of WO3 concentrate delivered in monthly installments. The agreement also calls for GTC to process toll material to Blue Tungsten Oxide on behalf of North American Tungsten.

Springer Mining Company, a subsidiary of Golden Predator Mines (TSX:GP), has closed an amended agreement with Cosgrave Ranch LLC.  In addition, the company has completed partial payment towards a promissory note. The amendment modifies the terms of the acquisition by Springer mining of certain strategic land, water rights, and other assets from Cosgrave Ranch LLC. The original asset purchase agreement included a promissory note of US$6.75 million payable July 3, 2013. US$2 million of the proceeds have been retained by Golden Predator, the balance of US$1 million has been paid to Cosgrave in addition to 4,728,000 units of Golden Predator having a deemed value of US$2 million, based on an agreed price of CDN$0.50, per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one-half share purchase warrant exercisable at seventy-five cents ($0.75) each, exercisable for a period of two years. As a result of the amendment and partial payment of the promissory note, a principle balance of US$3.75 million remains payable to Cosgrave.

Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: KHT) has announced that as a result of the regional joint venture grassroots exploration program with the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (”JOGMEC”) a new property, Kidlark, has been explored. Surface sampling has returned high grade tungsten assay results from this scheelite skarn occurrence. The Kidlark Property was explored in late July, and company geologists immediately staked 32 claims covering several visually impressive scheelite-bearing garnet skarn tungsten showings. The property is approximately 90 kilometers northeast of Whitehorse in an active placer gold operational area serviced by an active airstrip and winter road access. Eighteen grab samples were taken from the Kidlark Property and submitted to EcoTech Laboratories in Whitehorse for testing. Assay results for the samples ranged up to 7.68 per cent WO3 and averaged 1.463 per cent WO3 with visual estimations of scheelite content by UV fluorescence correlating well with WO3 per cent content. The 18 samples were taken from 5 distinct showings over 13 kilometers along a single geological contact.

Tungsten's variety of uses and short supply work in favour of maintaining the metal's price point

By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

Tungsten prices have managed to hold steady while all the other base metals dive. In 2004, tungsten was worth $60 per mtu, and now it oscillates around $260 per mtu. Tungsten’s value is due to its exceptional properties. Tungsten has a high melting point that makes it useful for filaments in incandescent lights, a near-diamond hardness that makes it valuable for the manufacture of high-grade drill bits and saw blades, and a density higher than lead, without lead’s toxicity.  With lead’s toxicity causing it to fall out of favour, technological advances are leading to tungsten as a “green” replacement for lead. Some key uses- tungsten is now used in shielding blankets used every time you receive an X-ray,  it’s used for amour piercing bullets, and even fisherman are using it for weights on their lines.

With tungsten’s steadfast price, it is no surprise that a tungsten mining company is managing to hold its own despite the challenges the industry is facing in the current economy. North American Tungsten (TSX.V: NTC) has topped the Vancouver Sun’s list of 100 fastest growing companies for the second year in a row. Led by CEO Stephen Leahy, North American Tungsten has successfully made the jump from a junior exploration company to an operating company with 223 employees, most of them at the company’s mine 300 kilometers north of Watson Lake. In 2007, North American Tungsten’s Cantung mine in the Northwest Territories was fully operational for the first time. Production was up 20 per cent, sales revenues increased 15 per cent, operating cash flow climbed 300 per cent and the junior mining company came close to being profitable, cutting losses to $1.2 million from $2.7 million in 2006.

Other news coming from North American Tungsten’s office, after months of haggling the company has cancelled the private placement as part of a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation. The private placement entailed approximately 13.4 million units of NTC at a price of $1.45 per unit on a private placement basis.  North American Tungsten was extending every possible courtesy to Hunan; however, the company was having trouble with all the red tape in its homeland, China. The cancellation enables NTC to seek other financing options so that the company can proceed with the development of its Mactung project.

StrataGold Corporation (TSX:SGV) is pleased to announce that a new independent National Instrument NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate has increased the Indicated Resource of the Mar-Tungsten Deposit by 44 per cent. The Mar-Tungsten Deposit contains 65.7 million pounds of tungsten WO3 in the Indicated category and 8.5 million pounds of tungsten WO3 in the Inferred category based on a 0.1 per cent WO3 cutoff. A primary economic assessment is currently ongoing on the property.  The Mar-Tungsten Deposit is located within StrataGold’s wholly owned Dublin Gulch property, Yukon Territory, Canada.

Playfair Mining (TSX.V:PLY) has announced encouraging results from its 2008 drilling program on the Grey River Tungsten deposit. The main objective of the drill program was to test the down dip and northern strike extensions of the #10 vein tungsten deposit. Analytical results from the drill core sample show that the #10 vein extends an estimated 250 m down dip below the previously defined deposit. The maximum concentration of WO3 found in the drill holes to date is 1.13 per cent over 2.5 m.  According to Donald Moore, Playfair’s Chairman and CEO, “The 2008 drill campaign confirms the potential for additional tungsten resources below the adit and also to the north. Vein type environments are often conducive to further resource expansion through development and underground drilling. Combined with the prospect of finalizing the metallurgical test work and milling circuit design, the Grey River Deposit is another significant step closer to a production decision.” 
Tungsten mining outside of China is few and far in between, and new mines are always needed to supply the western world as China is known to be stingy on exports.  That fact, coupled with steady tungsten prices means that there is a strong need for western based mines to come online.