Tag Archives: tungsten

Chinese tungsten prices soar before National Day break

Chinese tungsten prices shifted up again before China’s week-long National Day holiday, on tight concentrate supply and strong downstream demand
from the hard alloys sector. Tungsten concentrate is trading at 90,000-91,000 yuan ($13,437-13,586) per tonne, up 3,000 yuan from last week, the highest level since August 2008.

“Demand from the hard alloys sector is still robust, while supply of concentrate is very tight now as miners have
finished most of their production quota for this year,” said a producer in Jiangxi province, a major source of tungsten.  Due to a series of heavy…

(AMM) US tungsten, ferrosilicon markets strong

The U.S. tungsten market continues to firm at the hands of Chinese suppliers, with domestic ammonium paratungstate (APT) rising as much at 10 percent in the past month alone.
Prices for APT in the North American market have climbed to between $235 and $240 per short ton unit (stu), traders told AMM, up from the $215- to $220-per-stu range reported at the start of September and well above the $170- to $190-per-stu spread seen at the onset of the year.
“Tungsten never took the big run up like the other specialty metals, so kind of its time has come,” one trader said.
The price rise is mostly a supply-side issue, as a series of heavy rainfalls in major tungsten-producing areas of China, a shortage of concentrate and…

Tungsten miners unwilling to sell

BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 29-Jun-10.  Tungsten miners are unwilling to sell tungsten concentrate, as most mines in Jiangxi and Hunan provinces have stopped mining due to the heavy rain.

The prices for 65% grade wolframite have remained holding at Rmb83,000-85,000/tonne, without evident improvement compared with the prices seen late last week, but there is a lack of supply from miners in the spot market.

According to market participants, the supply of tungsten concentrate is even tighter since most mining in Jiangxi and Hunan has been hindered by the heavy rain and the floods.

“Three tungsten mines of Jiangxi Tungsten Group have halted production since the heavy rain and the flooding has prevented miners going to the mines,” said a Jiangxi based smelter. The three mines are Tieshanlong Tungsten Mine, Piaotang Tungsten Mine and Dajishan Tungsten Mine, which are the largest production base for tungsten concentrate in China.

A Miner in Hunan claimed that the company will not sell any material at less than Rmb85,000/tonne.

“Many tungsten mines in Hunan province have stopped production due to the heavy rain and the regulations by the government. I think the supplies of tungsten concentrate will remain tight and higher prices will be seen in the coming month of July,” the source noted.

Meanwhile, the prices for 65% grade scheelite have remained quite firm at Rmb82,000-84,000/tonne. Higher prices are expected to be seen in the days to come