Mapping the global flow of tungsten to identify key material efficiency and supply security opportunities

• This paper has mapped the global mass flows of tungsten, from mining to end-use sectors, for the year 2010 and identified key areas where intervention would be beneficial to broaden the supply base and increase the material efficiency of the system to enhance its security of supply.
• The key messages identified from tungsten’s global mass flow analysis in 2010 are: (i) China accounted for about 87% of all mine production; (ii) tungsten’s beneficiation process can lead to considerable losses (10–40% of the tungsten content of the ore may be lost) that can even exceed the total amount of tungsten supply from end-of-life scrap (roughly 25% of total tungsten supply in 2010); (iii) processing losses during the fabrication of intermediate products are comparatively lower (<5%); (iv) based on their processing energies, tungsten recycling is less energy intensive than virgin production.
• Analysis of the key messages described above shows that: (i) tungsten is not geologically scarce and supply diversification is possible; (ii) it is technically feasible to minimise the dissipation of tungsten during beneficiation; (iii) intermediate fabrication losses are low due to tungsten’s high price and efficient closed loop recycling practices in manufacturing facilities; (iv) tungsten recycling is not constrained by technological availability but rather by the lack of appropriate post-consumer collection systems; (v) low-energy recycling does not necessarily translate into lower costs for manufacturers.
• Future R&D efforts to improve tungsten’s material efficiency should focus on: (i) investigating ways of avoiding tungsten losses as fine particles during beneficiation; (ii) improving the economics of the beneficiation process; (ii) examining what are the current limitations of recycling collection systems and evaluating alternatives for improvement.
• Future policy efforts to ensure a secure supply of tungsten should consider: (i) investigating the potential benefits of providing economic incentives for investors and companies willing to explore and develop new tungsten resources and/or re-evaluate known resources outside China, not only including mining activities but also fabrication and manufacturing of intermediate tungsten products; (ii) investigating the applicability of alternative material efficiency strategies, including the use of less material by design and lifetime extensions for specific key products.

Tungsten is an economically important metal with diverse applications ranging from wear resistant cutting tools to its use in specialized steels and alloys. Concerns about its supply security have been raised by various studies in literature, mostly due to trade disputes arising from supply concentration and exports restrictions in China and its lack of viable substitutes. Although tungsten material flows have been analysed for specific regions, a global mass flow analysis of tungsten is still missing in literature and its global supply chain remains opaque for industry outsiders. The objective of this paper is to create a map of global tungsten flows to highlight and discuss key material efficiency (i.e., using less of a material to make a product or supply a service, or reducing the material entering production but ending up in waste) and supply security opportunities along tungsten’s supply chain that could be incorporated into the planning and prioritization of future supply security strategies. The results indicate the existence of various intervention alternatives that could help to broaden the supply base and improve the overall material efficiency of the system. In particular, future policy and research and development (R&D) efforts to improve tungsten’s material efficiency should focus on minimizing tungsten losses as fine particles during beneficiation and extraction (current global losses estimated at 10–40%), as well as on evaluating alternatives to improve recycling collection systems and technologies, which could lead to 17–45% more tungsten discards being recycled into new products.