Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Tungsten

The hardest-working metal in industry: tungsten carbide cuts, drills and grinds, and China mines nearly four-fifths of it.

Steel & alloying · No. 19

  • EU strategic
  • EU critical 2023
  • US critical 2025
  • India critical 2023
  • HHI 6,146 · highly concentrated
Steel & alloying · Foundation · Matter

Tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal, and China mines nearly four-fifths of the world's supply.

Chart: Illustration: Tungsten

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Tungsten is mined as scheelite and wolframite from veins and skarns, often in small underground mines. Low-grade ore is concentrated, then chemically turned into APT.

Three things to know
  1. Tungsten carbide is one of the hardest engineering materials, which is why it tips drills and cutting tools.
  2. Tungsten is priced per metric ton unit of tungsten trioxide, which holds 7.93 kg of tungsten.
  3. The EU rates tungsten's economic importance at 8.7, one of the highest scores of any material.
The journey
  1. 1 OreScheelite or wolframite in veins, skarns
  2. 2 ConcentrateGravity and flotation upgrade low grades
  3. 3 APTConverted to ammonium paratungstate
  4. 4 Carbide powderOxide, then metal powder, then carbide
  5. 5 End usesCutting tools, drill bits, wire, electrodes
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