Tungsten ranked second behind rare earths in the British Geological Survey's 2012 supply risk index based on a number of factors like location and tungsten concentration of production and reserves.

But the report highlighted that tungsten (as well as rare earths) has lower recycling and low substitutability. The supply risk for tungsten stems from China's role in the industry.

China accounts for approximately 83% of global tungsten concentrate production and about 62% of global tungsten reserves. China became a significant player in tungsten production in the mid-1980s.

By the late 1990s, it had flooded the global market with tungsten causing concentrate prices to plunge below most western producer's variable cost. As a result, the vast majority of western mines were closed.
 

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The Los Santos Project produces tungsten concentrate from scheelite ore. The project is currently the only open pit tungsten mine in operation in the west. The open pit nature of the Los Santos Project helps Almonty control its costs as it allows for greater flexibility in mining and the planning/production process.

Almonty Industries is currently engaged in a 28,000 metre exploration campaign (7,000 metres per year over the next 4 years) with a view to extending the mine life and further delineating the resource at the Los Santos Project.

Underground mining at the Los Santos Project may be an option in the future in order to target the recovery of additional higher grade veins of ore after the open pit mining has recovered all the economically viable ore using this mining process.
 

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Location, processing and capital can make the tungsten market a tough place to be, but dwindling supply and insubstantial production indicate a coming price swing.

In this interview with The Metals Report, Ken Chernin, equity research analyst with Jennings Capital, talks about why investors have ignored tungsten in the past and which companies could be a "tungsten global force."

The Metals Report: Tungsten is used in many applications—to make tools, drill bits, glass bottles, aluminum cans, steel and wire.

Because it has a high melting point and is very dense. It's a very useful metal, but the British Geological Survey called it an endangered substance in a 2012 report.
 

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In the past  2010, the Los Santos Project had an annual output of approximately 225,000 tonnes of ore (at 0.25% WO3) and  the mine had an annual output of approximately 441,976 tonnes of ore (at 0.27% WO3).

Tungsten is a unique metal due to its high temperature properties and exceptional high density. The metal also has widespread uses with approximately half of all tungsten used in the production of hard materials.

Namely tungsten carbide, with the remaining major uses being in alloys, steels and chemicals. Tungsten occurs primarily as wolframite ore and scheelite ore within massive pyroxene skarns.
 

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