Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #tungsten
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Some thoughts on #tungsten below:
2020 market size was about 106,000 tonnes
80% of this comes from China
7% was consumed in defence, of which 80% goes into ammunition
7% was consumed in a depressed Oil and Gas sector
24% was consumed in a depressed mining sector
2020 market size was about 106,000 tonnes
80% of this comes from China
7% was consumed in defence, of which 80% goes into ammunition
7% was consumed in a depressed Oil and Gas sector
24% was consumed in a depressed mining sector
One of the likely fallouts from the Russia / Ukraine invasion are Free World policy shifts towards energy and raw material independence becoming strategic priorities.
#Tungsten's main uses are for whenever you drill, cut metal and for specialty alloys. It is largely unsubstitutable for these applications.
Some thoughts on the current markets below. There are once in a generation (or even once in a lifetime) opportunities right now.
1. There was not enough "stuff" today before Ukraine and Russian sanctions with most commodities in major deficits
2. There is even less "stuff" in the future due to a decade of underinvestment in new capacity and exploration and a demand shock from the Green Energy Revolution
2. There is even less "stuff" in the future due to a decade of underinvestment in new capacity and exploration and a demand shock from the Green Energy Revolution
3. Russia is an autarky - they are self sufficient in energy, metals and food - and a major producer and exporter of many critical commodities
4. Russia is now and will be for years to come a pariah state - doing business there or trading with them will cripple your business
4. Russia is now and will be for years to come a pariah state - doing business there or trading with them will cripple your business
Investing in #Tungsten
I start off each series on investing in a different metal talking about mineralogy – this will be no different! There are 2 commercially valuable mineral types in tungsten – scheelite (calcium tungstate) and the wolframite series (iron-manganese tungstate.)
I start off each series on investing in a different metal talking about mineralogy – this will be no different! There are 2 commercially valuable mineral types in tungsten – scheelite (calcium tungstate) and the wolframite series (iron-manganese tungstate.)
Scheelite is generally speaking easier and cheaper to recover than wolframite, mainly because it is recoverable via gravity and flotation means whereas wolframite only by gravity. Scheelite fluoresces which can make a trip to an underground #tungsten mine very interesting! 
Both scheelite and wolframite are brittle meaning that they are liable to produce unrecoverable slimes during processing. These #tungsten minerals have a very high specific gravity though, of 6 g/cm3 and 7 g/cm3 respectively, making gravity separation relatively simple.
