Review of tungsten resource reserves, tungsten concentrate production and tungsten beneficiation technology in China

Abstract

Tungsten is a strategic metal that is widely used in various fields such as electron communication, aeronautics and astronautics, materials and chemical engineering, due to its special properties. China has the largest reserves of tungsten resources and the largest output of tungsten concentrate in the world, and plays a decisive role in the world tungsten market. In this work, firstly, the reserves and distribution characteristics of tungsten resources in China were summarized, and the production situation of tungsten concentrate in China was reviewed. Based on the gross domestic product per capita (GDP/capita), five different annual GDP growth rates were used to estimate China's tungsten concentrate production in the future. The estimation results suggested that if China's economy continues to grow at the current rate, the accumulative production of tungsten concentrate will exceed current reserves by approximately 2032. Then, from the aspects of process flow, beneficiation equipment and flotation reagents, the beneficiation technology development of different types of tungsten ore in China was also reviewed, including wolframite, scheelite and tungsten-bearing slime. Finally, taking several representative tungsten mines in China as examples, the classic beneficiation technology of different types of tungsten ores was elucidated in detail. Meanwhile, the development direction of tungsten beneficiation technology in the future was put forward, which was of great significance to maintain the superiority of tungsten resources in China.