Tungsten Minerals in Alaska – 2 of 2

Tungsten minerals found in the Lost River Alaska further on, according to the historical estimate, the surface minable portion of the Lost River deposit hosts 18.84 million lb of tungsten, 7.7 billion lb of fluorite and 122 million lb of tin. 

Beryllium is also reported to be associated with this deposit but is not reported as a resource due to the difficulties recovering it. With tungsten, fluorite, tin and beryllium all on United States Geological Survey's recent list of minerals critical to the United States, the Lost River deposit may be a well soil place to extract tungsten. Geologists familiar with Lost River, however, caution that further work needs to be done to shore up the historical estimate due to the spatial and mineralogic complexities of the deposit in Alaska.

Due to the characteristic of the tungsten - extremely hard and with the highest melting point of all the elements on the periodic table, tungsten is a vital ingredient to a wide-range of industrial and military applications, yet none of this durable metal is currently mined in the United States. Extracting from tungsten minerals, the tungsten carbide could be used to make core drilling bits used by the mining industry, such as the Atlas Copco bit. Diamond impregnated bits, such as the two on the right, however, are the most common choice for hard rock drilling.

According to the United States Geological Survey, more than half of the tungsten consumed in the U.S. last year was used to make the cemented tungsten-carbide, a compound typically made with equal parts tungsten and carbon. Roughly twice as strong as steel, tungsten carbide is often found in reinforced drill bits, saw blades, wear plates and other items needed to meet some of the most demanding conditions in the mining, oil and gas, construction and metal-working industries. Tungsten carbide's hardness, coupled with its very high density, also makes this metallic compound ideal for making armor-piercing ammunitions for the military.

Because it retains its strength at high temperatures and has a high melting point, elemental tungsten is used in many high-temperature applications, such as light bulb, cathode-ray tube and vacuum tube filaments; heating elements; and rocket engine nozzles. Its high melting point also makes tungsten suitable for aerospace and high-temperature uses such as electrical, heating, and welding applications, such as tungsten inert gas welding.

Tungsten minerals are rarely to find, varieties of industries are more likely to put the vital place of tungsten, it is also be known as tragedy metal. Tungsten minerals in Alaska is meaningful for the US tungsten and the global tungsten market.

Tungsten Minerals in Alaska – 1 of 2

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