Chinatungsten Online learned that CPM Group has released its Tungsten Market Outlook 2013. The 150-page study provides an in-depth analysis of global tungsten supply, demand, and price trends, including projections for the next 10 years.  The report contains supply and demand statistics from 2000 through 2022, details on emerging tungsten projects inside and outside of China, a breakdown of tungsten demand by end-use, information on regional tungsten markets around the world, and detailed trade tables for tungsten ores, Ammonium Paratungstate (APT), and Ferrotungsten.

The prospects for the Chinese tungsten market are highlighted throughout the report, which includes a breakdown of Chinese mine production costs, mining regulation, and trade policy changes, and key demand drivers.  In addition, a project reference guide is provided with details on producing and potential tungsten mines.  The Tungsten Market Outlook provides 10-year forecasts for supply, demand, and prices under a base case and two alternate scenarios.

CPM Group’s Tungsten Market Outlook 2013:

    ►10 Year Supply and Demand Projections, and Ammonium Paratungstate (APT) Price Forecasts
    ►Tungsten Supply, Demand, and Price Projections under Alternate Scenarios
    ►Historical Supply and Demand Data
    ►Review of Chinese Trade Policies for Tungsten Products
    ►Breakdown of Chinese Mine Production Costs
    ►Tungsten Supply Detail by Country
    ►Tungsten Demand Statistics by End-Use and Region
    ►Benchmarking of Tungsten Exploration and Development Projects
    ►Mine Project Reference Guide for Producing and Potential Tungsten Mines

Tungsten demand, because of its heavy end use applications in machinery and steel, is highly sensitive to worldwide economic conditions.  Tungsten price activity over the past year largely reflected a slowing Chinese economy in which overall tungsten demand is estimated to have contracted in 2012.  In addition, as prices rose precipitously in 2011 many consumers built inventories; these inventories were partially worked down last year.  In December 2012, APT prices averaged, basis Metal Pages, $318/mtu, the lowest level since December 2010.  Over the longer term Chinatungsten Online's expects Chinese economic conditions to continue to support tungsten demand growth rates, albeit slower than in the previous decade.

Chinatungsten Online learned,China is the world’s largest producer of tungsten, typically contributing roughly eighty-five percent of global output.  Mine policies in China over the years have been introduced as part of the country’s longer term plan for economic development.  While there have been notable efforts by the Chinese government to increase the transparency of industry data, visibility into the market remains obscure.  Chinatungsten Online ’s in-depth analysis of supply trends encompasses extensive research within China to gather credible and reliable market intelligence.  Any significant shift in Chinese tariff or export policies could restructure the market again in the future.  Chinatungsten Online examines changes in these policies in its alternate scenarios for supply, demand, and prices.

Chinatungsten Online in-depth analysis of supply and demand trends encompasses extensive research to provide credible and reliable market intelligence to clients.  The outlook for tungsten supply growth is robust from both Chinese and non-Chinese producers that are expected to come on-stream over the next few years.  In the medium term, additional supply from projects in Vietnam, South Korea, and Britain could keep a cap on tungsten prices.  Over the longer term, tungsten’s unique physical properties and lack of viable substitutes should support demand and prices, despite a robust growth in supply.
 

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Aluminium was once more costly than gold. Napoleon III, emperor of France, reserved cutlery made from it for his most favoured guests, and the Washington monument, in America’s capital, was capped with it not because the builders were cheapskates but because they wanted to show off. How times change. And in aluminium’s case they changed because, in the late 1880s, Charles Hall and Paul Héroult worked out how to separate the stuff from its oxide using electricity rather than chemical reducing agents. Now, a small British firm, hope to do much the same with tantalum, titanium and a host of other recherché and expensive metallic elements including neodymium, tungsten and vanadium.

The effect could be profound. Tantalum is an ingredient of the best electronic capacitors. At the moment it is so expensive ($500-2,000 a kilogram) that it is worth using only in things where size and weight matter a lot, such as mobile phones. Drop that price and it could be deployed more widely. Neodymium is used in the magnets of motors in electric cars. Vanadium and tungsten give strength to steel, but at great expense. And the strength, lightness, high melting point and ability to resist corrosion of titanium make it an ideal material for building aircraft parts, supercars and medical implants—but it can cost 50 times as much as steel. Guppy Dhariwal, Metalysis’s boss, thinks however that the company can make titanium powder (the product of its new process) for less than a tenth of such powder’s current price.

The difference between its process and that of Hall and Héroult (and why electrolysis has not previously been used to make metals such as tantalum and titanium) is that the Hall-Héroult method requires both input oxide and output metal to be in liquid form. That demands heat. But aluminium has a fairly low melting point and its oxide can be dissolved in a substance called cryolite that also has a low melting point, so the amount of heat needed is manageable. Titanium and tantalum are not so obliging. The company trick is to do the electrolysis on powdered oxides directly, without melting them.

This was shown to be possible in 1997 when researchers at Cambridge University found that immersing small samples of certain oxides in baths of molten salt and passing a current through them transformed the material directly into metal. Metalysis was set up in 2001 to commercialise the idea and in 2005 the firm moved to Wath-upon-Dearne, a village near Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, in order to tap the local engineering skills that once made the county (home of silver plate, stainless steel and the Bessemer converter) the California of metallurgy. These skills turned a technique that could produce a few grams of metal in a laboratory into a process that operates on an industrial scale.

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Jennings Capital analyst Ken Chernin has kept his buy rating and 12 month target price of C$1.70 a share for Almonty Industries (TSE:AII), after the tungsten producer released its first quarter results on Thursday.

For the period that ended December 31, Almonty reported cash flow per share of 4 cents, versus Jennings' estimate of 3 cents and compared to 5 cents in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The company operates the Los Santos tungsten mine in Spain. The analyst notes the producer saw higher head greades during the quarter, mining 127,928 tonnes of ore at a weighted-average head grade of 0.37% tungsten, versus 114,647 tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.3% tungsten in the fourth quarter.

At the end of the quarter, Almonty was achieving recoveries of 64.8%, with Chernin noting that recoveries are continuing to improve. Plant recoveries for the first quarter averaged 63.3%, compared to 60% in the fourth quarter.

The analyst adds that his firm expects recoveries to improve to around 70% with the installation of additional gravity tables. If an additional flotation circuit is installed, Chernin says Almony could yield recoveries as high as 76%.

Cash costs are also continuing to decline, with there still being "room for improvement", the report notes. For the first quarter, Almonty's average cash cost of tungsten concentrate was US$146 per MTU, versus US$159 per MTU for the fourth quarter and compared to Jennings' estimate of US$148 per MTU.

The company is planning to connect its tungsten project to the national grid in March of this year, which could reduce power costs by C$1 million and C$1.3 million annually.

The Los Santos project is a tungsten mine located about 50 kilometers from Salamanca, in western Spain.

Shares of Almonty were changing hands Friday at around 90 cents.

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2% lanthanated tungsten electrodes carry more amperage than the rest and they ball evenly on alternating current. Not all tungsten electrodes ball evenly and not all of them can handle the amperage.

With all the different types of tungsten electrodes available, like pure tungsten, ceriated, lanthanated, thoriated, and zirconiated and rare earth types, what is the best tungsten to use?

That's a big question....but

    If you are interested in an all purpose tungsten electrode that can be used for steels as well as aluminum and magnesium,...
    If you are looking for an electrode that carries more amperage than all the rest so that you can use a smaller diameter electrode...
    If you are interested in an electrode that does not give off radioactive dust when sharpened...

Then 2% lanthanated tungsten are the clear choice

    Pure tungsten balls up at relatively low amperage and often requires using one size larger electrode than others.
    1.5% lanthanated is supposed to be comparable to 2% thoriated but our tests indicate otherwise.
    2% thoriated hold up well to high amperage but don't ball up evenly on AC...and reportedly, give off radioactive dust when ground.
    Zirconiated electrodes don't carry much more current than pure tungsten.

Unless you want a drawer full of different types of tungsten, one for every situation, just get some 2% lanthanated tungsten and call it a day.

At 200 amps on AC current and 100 hz, our tests showed that 2% lanth electrodes performed better than all the rest.

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