Curtin University, Draslovka partner to advance glycine leaching technology
Non-toxic amino acid has the potential to replace hazardous chemicals like cyanide in mineral extraction processes, Curtin professor says.
The steel-gray metal – one known for its high melting point, which makes it ideal for use as a filament, superalloy or in military applications – is making a resurgence as market machinations in China restrict exports and western miners scramble to meet demand.
Companies like Australia’s Hazelwood Resources are pushing hard to get into production while Fronteer Resources is moving forward on a project in Tazmania. Icon Resources’s flagship project – the Mt. Carbine tungsten mine in north Queensland – is slated to started production in 2013, the year when the global tungsten market appears headed for deficit.
That’s a sharp turn-around from the past 20 years, when global markets were flooded with cheap tungsten out of China. But, as said, that’s changing as China starts to look inward rather than outward. Translation? It’s building up a strategic reserve of various metals, tungsten being one of them, according to metalbulletin.com. This will change the dynamics of markets around the world and certainly exacerbate the so-called super-cycle we’re already in at the moment.
