Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSXV:HPY) announced results of additional drilling from its on-going exploration on the Rateria property, Highland Valley district, British Columbia, Canada.
Market fundamentals suggest that the tungsten scrap market should be thriving, but those in the industry are making reports to the contrary.
Due to tight export controls the price of tungsten has been skyrocketing. In an interview with Tungsten Investing News, Pierre Monet President of Malaga Inc. talks about the tungsten market and their mining operations.
Tungsten prices continue to rise, gaining approximately 80 per cent since October of 2010. The lack of supply from mining operations in the West as well as increased domestic demand in China has supported the price of tungsten.
The prices for tungsten have skyrocketed as much as 81 per cent over the last year due to tight supply chains. China’s second largest tungsten producer announces a three month shut down for repairs, adding scarcity in the market. Also, tungsten miners announce developments on their projects.
The reduction of export quotas from China, the world’s leading producer of the metal helped the price nearly triple over the course of the year. Recent reports from China have the quotas increasing nearly 10 percent for the first half of 2011. What will be the major stories for the tungsten market in 2011?
Woulfe Mining Corp. (CVE:WOF) reports that it has began drilling at its Sangdong tungsten-molybdenum project in South Korea.
As with many other base metals, China is looking to further reduce the exports of tungsten and may create a ‘strategic stockpile’ of the metal. These factors could make China a net importer of tungsten in 2011, a major benefit to non-Chinese producers of the metal.
Proactive Investor.com reports that in London today, Thor Mining Shares (ASX:THR) were up 8%. They attribute this to, among other things, an increase in tungsten price.
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.
Monday, September 19, 2011