The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-07-10
TUNGSTEN ORES
INCREASING IN
VALUE RAPIDLY

Tonopah Daily Sun.
All of the tugsten ores have be-
come of constantly increasing i'm
portance during the past few years,
and are destined to be of still greater
consequesce shortly. Their con-
sumption by the European steel in
dustry has been considerably aug
mented of late, while the prOduc-
ton of tungsten has by no means
kept pace with the demand. The
result has been large increment in
the value of all tungsten ores. This
should stimulate their production in
the United States. 1t is really a
misnomer to class tungsten as a
rare mineral, for it is systematic.
ally mined in various parts of the
world, and Is produced in appreci-
able quantities In Australia, says
the Mining World. The three i'm
portant tungsten minerals are wolf
ramite, scheelite and hubnerite, of
which the first two only are of any
great industrial Importance. Hub
nerite has been mined In such small
quantities that it cannot be consid-
cred seriously from a com mercial
standpoint.
Wolframite is the best known
tungsten mineral, and by reason of
it's high percentage of tungstic acid
(WO3) Is the most sought after. 1t
is tungstate of iron and mangan-
ese, and chemically, an isomorphus
compound of FeWO4 and MnWO4.
1t is usually black or brownish-
black in appearance and generally
possesses a metallic or adamantine
lustre. Pure wolframite contains 76
per cent of WO3, but the commercial
product is generally sold on basis
of so per cent WO3, which is con-
sidered standard quality. This
generally contains from 10 per cent
to 20 per cent ferric oxide (FeO).
The wolframite produced in Boul-
der and Ouray counties, Colorado.
(the current chief source of supply
In the listed States) is generally
shipped in the form of concentrates
which analyse from 60 to 70 per
cent WO3.
Scheelite is found in larger guam
titles than wolframite, but scheelite
is not SO desirable on account of its
impurities, which make treatment
difficult In color scheelite is usually
yellow, or brownish-yellOw, with a
n
scheelite will concentrate to from
40 to so per cent WO3, and these
concentrates are readily marketable
at somewhat lower prices than are
obtained for wolframite. Hubernite,
named after the German mineraligist
Hubner, Is, industrially considered,
the best of the tungsten ores but it
Is the most uncommon. 1t frequent
WO3, and almost no impurities, SO
that 1t is very valuable commercially.
This ore has been produced in small
quantities in the Dragon mountains
in Arizona, which is practically the
only source of supply in the United
States This supply is small and un-
certain, suggesting that hubnerite is
not destined to be extensively used
industrially.
The chief sources of the American
supply of scheelite are San Bernar-
dino county, California, near Jo-
hannesburg and Randsburg, and
Montana. Considerable quantities
have been shipped from the Cali
fornia mines during the past two
years. Most of this has been ex-
ported to Europe from San Francis
co. IL appears lO DE well ueHoH-
strated that tungsten ores occur in
quantity also in Arizona, Washing
ton, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada. So
far, however, the production of tung-
stem minerals in the United States is
relatively unimportant. which is due
not alone to the lack of demand, but
to various other causes.
The 1906 report of the United
States geological survey gives the
production of tungsten ores in that
year as 500 short tons. fair esti-
mate. This. however. shows an in
crease of only sixty-three tons over
the total for the preceding year.
manifestly poor showing. The val
lie of the entire production during
1904 was given at $1S4,00O. while
that for 1905 was $26S.676, an in
crease of $S4,676. 1t will be seen
therefore, that the relative increase
in value was 46 per cent; and in
production less than 10 per cent.
These figures apparently demon
strate that the deposits of tungsten