Flooding hits China’s W mining
The
heavy rains and flooding in Jiangxi province have disrupted tungsten ore
mining, sources said. The result has been that suppliers holding ore have
become reluctant sellers. They are
certain that the flooding will continue to affect output for several weeks and
that prices will rise over time.
Roughly 40% of Olina’s tungsten concentrateoutput comes from Jiangxi
province.. China’s licensed mines produced 40,369 mt of W03 in concentrates in
the first five months of the year, up maIginally from production in the same
period of 2009. Production in Jiangxi province fell 25% in the January- May
period compared to the year-ago period to 14,935mt of W03.ln May alone, anna’s
ore prodUdion was 11,038mt of W03′ up II% compared to May 2009.
Currently concentrate prices
have finned to $188-193 per mtu compared to $186-191. Surprisingly APf and FeW
prices have not risen with the concentrate inaeases. APf is quoted at $232-237
per mm, f.o.b. and fenotungsten is at $31.~32.50 per kg, f.o.b. OUna’s APr
exports rose to 630 mt in May compared to 392 mt in April and 83 mt in May
2009. Through May, AJ7f exports were 2,052 mt vs. 726 mt in the same 2009
period.
Exports were: 830 mt (247 mt in the first five months of
2009) to Rotterdam; 651 mt (214 mt) to Japan and 514 mt (262 mt) to the US.
Chinaa’s exports of ferrotungsten were 553 mt in the first five months of 2010
compared to 962 in the year-ago period. Exports were mainly: 337 mt (205 mt) to
Japan and 191 mt (699 mt) to Rottenlam. Ferrotungsten exports in May were
50 mt compared to 42 mt in
May 2009.