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Tungsten
Tungsten, meaning heavy stone in Swedish has the highest melting point of any element, and is extremely hard wearing and corrosion resistant, making it one of the world’s strategic metals.
A tough, hard-wearing, corrosion and heat-resistant metal, tungsten is challenging to transform from its ores, scheelite and wolframite into an export-ready concentrate, or the elemental metal. New paths in metallurgy could unlock New Zealand tungsten for use in automotive and aerospace, in hard-metal tools, counterweights, speciality steel alloys, the chemicals industry, and in electronics.
Scheelite Ore
Within the Otago Schist belt are lenses containing the mineral, calcium tungstate, or scheelite, a heavy variant of limestone or marble. When scheelite occurs in association with gold, the challenge is to win both the gold and the tungsten.
Ammonium Paratungstate
Synthetic Scheelite
Adding ammonia to scheelite produces the commercially traded intermediate material, ammonium paratungstate or APT. If this can be made to be commercially viable, New Zealand will have a new export product.
The Elusive Heavy Stone
Swedish chemist Carl Scheele produced in 1781 an oxide of tungsten, the existence of which was earlier deduced by an Irish contemporary, Peter Woulfe. His name for the metal, wolfram, is recalled today in the chemical symbol, W, while the element was first isolated by the de Elhuyar brothers of Spain in 1783. Long hidden in rocks, the challenge for better metallurgical processes for tungsten ore continues today.
The 17 rare earth elements find uses in many low-carbon and smart technologies such as electric vehicles, wind farms, computers and phones.
Current Projects
Project 1470-6
Tungsten Tailings
Metallurgists Crack the Tungsten Code
Project 1003-5
Rare Earths & Mineral Sands
NZIMMR’s Search for REEs is extending to Mineral Sands
Project 1280-4
Pounamu
New Life for Pounamu Shavings
Project 1709-3
Silica Sands
Adding Value to New Zealand’s Silica Sand Resources
Project 1359-2
Enhancing Gold Recovery
Substantial Amounts of Gold on the West Coast
Project 1708-0
Carbon Foam
Turning Light Carbon Materials into Power