Showpiece APT plant rides the tungsten wave

Abstract

China produces approximately 70 per cent of the world's tungsten raw materials and possesses nearly 45 per cent of the world's known tungsten ore reserves. Over the past five years the rapid growth in China's economy and increasing global demand for tungsten has driven up prices of high quality intermediate tungsten products such as ammonium paratungstate (APT) and tungsten oxides. In the second of two articles, Bernard Williams reports from a new 10 000 tonnes/year APT powder plant at Chenzhou in Hunan Province.