368
N. F. Nissen et al.
Fig. 26.2 Use of tungsten
per application (Gille and
Meier 2012)
The use of tungsten as vibration motor in smartphones (and other mobile devices)
is only a marginal share of the above stated 13% tungsten heavy metal use.
The tungsten market was in oversupply, because of an economic slowdown in
China and weak economic conditions elsewhere, which led to mine production
exceeding consumption. Global tungsten prices trended downwards during 2014
and 2015. USGS reports prices for tungsten to have reached 38 USD per kilogram
in 2015 whereas in 2016 a price of 17.9 USD per kilogram is reported. In spite of
oversupply and low prices, new production entered the market. In 2015, tungsten
mines in the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe began production, a large new mine
in Vietnam ramped up production and its processing plant started producing ammonium paratungstate and tungsten oxides as well as new ferrotungsten plants in Russia
and the Republic of Korea began production (USGS 2016).
Tungsten is economically extractable from the two minerals wolframite and
scheelite. The ore content of 0.1 to 2.5% WO 3 is concentrated up to 65–75% for
commercial trading as feedstock for further refining (ITIA 2011). The most common
intermediate is ammonium paratungstate (APT) for further tungsten products, e.g.
tungsten carbide. Besides tungsten ores, about 30% of tungsten-bearing scrap is
used as secondary resource, which is directly introduced into the supply chain for
the production of high-purity APT (Willersen 2016). In 2015, the estimated tungsten contained in scrap consumed by processors and end users represented 59% of
apparent consumption of tungsten in all forms (USGS 2016).
The recycling of tungsten is mostly concentrated on tungsten carbides, because
they represent approx. half of the tungsten consumption and as they are comparatively simple to collect. The tungsten used in the vibration motors counts as tungsten
heavy metal alloys (Luidold 2017). The requirements on tungsten products are huge
wherefore contamination free and homogenous fractions with high purity have to
be processed especially when recovering small quantities as they are found in the
vibration motor.
N. F. Nissen et al.
Fig. 26.2 Use of tungsten
per application (Gille and
Meier 2012)
The use of tungsten as vibration motor in smartphones (and other mobile devices)
is only a marginal share of the above stated 13% tungsten heavy metal use.
The tungsten market was in oversupply, because of an economic slowdown in
China and weak economic conditions elsewhere, which led to mine production
exceeding consumption. Global tungsten prices trended downwards during 2014
and 2015. USGS reports prices for tungsten to have reached 38 USD per kilogram
in 2015 whereas in 2016 a price of 17.9 USD per kilogram is reported. In spite of
oversupply and low prices, new production entered the market. In 2015, tungsten
mines in the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe began production, a large new mine
in Vietnam ramped up production and its processing plant started producing ammonium paratungstate and tungsten oxides as well as new ferrotungsten plants in Russia
and the Republic of Korea began production (USGS 2016).
Tungsten is economically extractable from the two minerals wolframite and
scheelite. The ore content of 0.1 to 2.5% WO 3 is concentrated up to 65–75% for
commercial trading as feedstock for further refining (ITIA 2011). The most common
intermediate is ammonium paratungstate (APT) for further tungsten products, e.g.
tungsten carbide. Besides tungsten ores, about 30% of tungsten-bearing scrap is
used as secondary resource, which is directly introduced into the supply chain for
the production of high-purity APT (Willersen 2016). In 2015, the estimated tungsten contained in scrap consumed by processors and end users represented 59% of
apparent consumption of tungsten in all forms (USGS 2016).
The recycling of tungsten is mostly concentrated on tungsten carbides, because
they represent approx. half of the tungsten consumption and as they are comparatively simple to collect. The tungsten used in the vibration motors counts as tungsten
heavy metal alloys (Luidold 2017). The requirements on tungsten products are huge
wherefore contamination free and homogenous fractions with high purity have to
be processed especially when recovering small quantities as they are found in the
vibration motor.