As an important non-renewable resource, tungsten is widely used in military industry, electronics, mining, machinery and other fields. It accounts for 72% of the downstream demand structure of tungsten in developed countries, and about 45% of the downstream demand structure of tungsten in my country. The following is an analysis of the development status of the tungsten industry.
Tungsten products mainly include tungsten concentrate raw materials and ammonium paratungstate, tungsten oxide, tungsten powder, cemented carbide, tungsten bar, tungsten wire and ferrotungsten, etc., which are widely used in automobiles, machinery, mining, petroleum, building materials, electronics, military, etc. field. Due to its irreplaceable role in many fields, tungsten has been listed as an important strategic metal by countries around the world. More importantly, my country is the largest country in tungsten resources, with reserves of about 1.9 million tons, accounting for 58% of the world's total.
In 2017, my country carried out mineral geological surveys around key metallogenic belts, integrated exploration areas, important mineral concentration areas and large resource bases, and completed a 1:50,000 mineral geological survey of 117,000 square kilometers, accumulatively completed a 1:50,000 mineral geological survey. 3,233,900 square kilometers were surveyed, accounting for 33.5% of the land area; 450 prospecting target areas were delineated, and 60 new mineral deposits were discovered. Analysis of the tungsten industry pointed out that the super-large beryllium mine in Cuonadong, Shannan, Tibet, has delineated 4 prospecting target areas, with resources of 159,000 tons of beryllium, 190,000 tons of tin, and 275,000 tons of tungsten (WO3).
In 2018, the total control index for mining of tungsten concentrate (with a tungsten trioxide content of 65%) in my country was 100,000 tons, of which the main mining index was 76,150 tons and the comprehensive utilization index was 23,850 tons. In 2007, the output of tungsten concentrate in my country was only about 80,000 tons. In 2009, the output of tungsten concentrate in my country exceeded 100,000 tons. By 2017, the output of tungsten concentrate in my country will be close to 140,000 tons. The development status of the tungsten industry points out that as of September 2018, the output of tungsten concentrate in my country has reached 82,200 tons.
my country's tungsten industry has a long industrial chain, covering upstream mining (scheelite, wolframite, black and white mixed tungsten ore) - upstream beneficiation (tungsten concentrate) - midstream smelting (APT, tungsten oxide, tungsten powder) - downstream (tungsten carbide) ) - deep processing (hard alloy) - terminal consumption (mainly concentrated in the machinery industry, metallurgical industry, military industry, etc.).
Due to the scarcity of tungsten ore resources, overcapacity in smelting and primary processing, and the high-tech threshold for deep processing, the value chain distribution of the tungsten industry presents the characteristics of "high at both ends and low in the middle": upstream tungsten mining and processing and downstream high-end cemented carbide ( In particular, high-precision, high-performance tools) have a relatively high profit level, while smelting, milling, medium and low-grade cemented carbide and tungsten products have relatively low profit levels.
The total amount of tungsten concentrate mining index issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is 91,300 tons, which has been maintained at this level for three consecutive years. Since the tungsten price in the early stage fell sharply below the production cost, the company suffered serious losses. Since 2016, the industry has gradually begun to rectify the order of tungsten mining and carry out resource integration, and the environmental protection efforts in terms of policies are likely to become stricter. It is expected that the oversupply situation in the early stage will be significantly improved. .
At present, my country's tungsten resources are mainly distributed in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, with reserves of 32% and 18% respectively, accounting for 50% of the country's total. In July 2017 and April-May 2018, the environmental protection department conducted inspections on Jiangxi Province, and in April and May 2018, the sixth central environmental protection inspection team was stationed in Hunan. Environmental inspections have directly affected some production output, especially in April and May this year, Hunan's production dropped significantly year-on-year during the environmental inspections.
Looking forward to 2019, my country's excavator sales, metal cutting machine tools, etc. have a very good performance, Japan's construction machinery output has also turned from negative to positive year-on-year, which shows that the demand for cemented carbide is relatively strong. In the future, the implementation of a series of innovative development strategies such as national high-end equipment, integrated circuits, and aero-engines will promote the accelerated adjustment of the tungsten industry structure. The above is the analysis of the current situation of the tungsten industry.