Aim-listed W Resources has recently restarted tungsten production at its La Parrilla mine in Spain following an extended maintenance shutdown. A number of improvements have been made during this period to streamline plant efficiency and overall recovery.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison Scott Morrison announced funding for rare earth refining to boost rare earth capacity, including vital components for high-tech batteries, as the country works with the U.S. to move away from its heavy reliance on the key Chinese mineral.

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

China’s domestic tungsten price remains firm and stable in the week ended on Friday, March 18, 2022 as raw material manufacturers’ confidence was shored up by the ferro tungsten and alloy markets affected by the concerns about the tight resource supply and the increased cost of smelting auxiliary materials under conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

Rare earth market quotation in China: europium oxide, neodymium oxide and lanthanum oxide prices remain unchanged while terbium oxide price declines slightly at the beginning of the week. 

At the beginning of the week, China’s domestic molybdenum market continued to remain strong Affected by factors such as the low spot inventory of molybdenum concentrate, the acceptable price of steel tenders and the generally strong awareness of profit-taking among suppliers, the trading activity in the market was relatively high. 

In a new study published in Science Advances, Rice University researchers have developed a method to extract rare earth elements (REEs) from fly ash using flash of heat. Coal fly ash may be a particularly valuable source of REEs. James Tour, an organic chemist at Rice University and author of the study, said, "Between the extracting chemicals and the toxic waste, REE mining turns out to be an environmental disaster."

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

Ferro tungsten and tungsten carbide powder prices in the Chinese market maintain stability but show signs of rise affected by the tension between Russia and Ukraine. However, spot transactions were still suppressed by the deadlocked supply and demand. 

Rare earth market quotation in China: terbium oxide, dysprosium oxide and praseodymium neodymium oxide prices showed a trend of decline in the week ended on Friday, March 18, 2022. 

Molybdenum market quotation in China: sodium molybdate, ammonium molybdate and ammonium heptamolvbdate prices are in the upward trend in the week ended on Friday, March 18, 2022. 

The U.S. Department of Energy announced last month that it plans to provide $140 million to build and operate a plant to separate rare earth elements (REEs) from coal wastes as a way to increase the rare earth supply. However, the REE concentrations in these wastes are low and comparable to those in soil and rock, casting doubt on whether such an operation would be economically viable.