Famous Tungsten Mine – Australia Tasmania King Island Scheelite

Famous tungsten mine - Australia Tasmania King Island Scheelite is in the northwest coast of Tasmania, which is in the south of Australia, average altitude is 210 meters. It has exploiting history of over 100 years. At present, the exploiting tungsten ore reserve is 3100 thousand tons, ore grade is 0.7%, WO3 reserve is 22 million tons.

Australia King Island Scheelite started exploiting since 1920s, its golden age is from 1940s to 1970s, the most prosperous period is in 1970s. At that time, there were more than 500 employees, accumulative total production of tungsten trioxide reaches 80 thousand tons. It is the local economic support. In early days, the produced tungsten scheelite has high grade, nearly 1.1%, is recognized by western countries.

However, the good situation didn’t last very long. Since 1980, international tungsten price faced sluggish, drop to bottom in 1990. King Island Scheelite can not cover its expense any more, so it then was forced to shut down.

Recently, international tungsten price rises while maintaining stable. Due to strategic function of tungsten, western countries are looking for other tungsten suppliers apart from China. Under this circumstances, King Island Scheelite prepares to reopen and exploit. At present, tungsten ore starts to operate, the advanced tungsten scheelite beneficiation method and equipments are from China. Open pit exploration period is about 8 years and underground mining is about 8 years. The targeted market are India, European countries and America.

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