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Business Daily: Elemental Business: Tungsten

09/07/2014

Elemental Business: Tungsten

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Elemental Business: Tungsten

A hard, heavy metal with many commercial uses, but why are there so few tungsten mines?

One of the hardest metals, tungsten has uses from light bulbs to weaponry. But why so few mines? We consider the market value of this weighty member of the period table.

One of the hardest metals of all, tungsten has a range of uses from light bulbs to state of the art weaponry. In the latest of Business Daily's exploration of the elements, we hear from professor Andrea Sella of University College London about the properties of this heavy metal. We get a tour of  SGS Carbide tool factory with managing director Alan Pearce, and we consider the market value of this very useful element with Mark Seddon, head of consultancy at Tungsten Market Research. And, the Chinese are big fans, but this still has not led to the boom in tungsten mining which might have been expected. We find out why. Also, Robert Kelley, military technology analyst, talks us through the uses of this weighty metal when it comes to the one-upmanship of of war.

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