For your own review of relevant stocks... Tungsten is expected to have supply shortage issues in 2011 stemming from export restrictions from China. Due to supply issues the metal has been placed on a list of critical strategic metals by the U.S. and the European Union. Yesterday, China's second largest tungsten producer, Jiangxi Tungsten announced that it will shut down their plant for 3 months for a regular overhaul of the facility. This decrease in supply will put further pressure on supply in the first half of this year and may affect prices that are already around record levels. The price of tungsten APT has risen 81 percent since year over year, from US$185 per MTU to its current price of $335 per MTU. The decrease in supply from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to the conflict minerals bill passed by the U.S. government is also another factor to consider for supply-demand fundamentals in this market. The call for tracing the source of minerals in conflict zones has hit a road block due to a lack of funding. "We were already working to tight timescales with no untraceable material being acceptable to the markets after April 1, stated Kay Nimmo, sustainability and regulatory affairs manager for the International Tin Research Institute. Source: http://resourceinvestingnews.com/11702-tungsten-price-rises-on-tight-supply.html There are a few tungsten explorers/miners listed on the ASX. DYODD
Cheers I'm hoping to convince a critical player to go ahead with a project involving Tungsten (Scheelite) mining here in the Midwest so that's great news.
If tungsten becomes too expensive, those fake gold tungsten bar potentially will worth a fair bit... who knows... industries probably look for these fake bars to extract the tungsten. hehehe...
I purchased some of those Gold bars. Stunning bullion. Sadly they were all lost recently in an "Unfortunate boating incident"
I thought so too, until I read further in the article that tungsten ranges from $16742 - $17043 per tonne. Even at the kilogram rate of 1000 Kg/tonne, it doesn't add up per Kg.
Careful with Tungsten prices - some of the prices are for Tungsten concentrate (i.e. over 83%WO2) which is the common precursor for tungsten metal and tungsten carbide. I've just gotten back from King Island - prices rises will be good for the chances of the scheelite mine reopening there.
There is an excellent article today by Robin Bromby in the Australian on Tungsten and a few stock choices. Cheers
If you like Tungsten have a look at Hazelwood (HAZ), tungsten is used to make drill bits for oil drilling because of its super high melting point (second only to carbon). So with the whole world thirsty for oil, I assume oil drilling suppliers and tungsten producers are an interesting way to play it.
(HAZ) and (III) are the ones closest to production - HAZ has the largest refinery outside china which is due to be up and running sept quarter I think....
I had both those for a while, am out of the stock market at the moment but thanks for reminding me of them. Will have a look again.
I couldnt help but giggle when I read the title of the thread , I really do not wanna learn about tungsten at the moment
Gigggle away, they usually giggle in early stages of a bull market, Tungsten is a vital drilling metal for mining and oil exploration companies. Its just a lateral thinking way of playing the mining boom.
http://www.goldgeologist.com/audio/RobertGraham/MercenaryRadio20110427.mp3 http://watch.bnn.ca/commodities/april-2011/commodities-april-26-2011/#clip456313 The Tungsten market update
