queensland ores jumps, page-2

German metals and chemicals giant H.C. Starck is notifying customers worldwide of a double-digit price increase for molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum and niobium metals. It adds that the demand for these metals, especially from the electronics sector, is expected to be secular not cyclical. They added -- in case we don't understand -- that "pricing pressures will be sustained and likely increase (further)". On the tungsten front, a real supply crunch seems to be in the making as projects around the world get hobbled by environmental problems -- one in Vietnam is now more than three years behind timetable -- and older mines start to near the end of their lives. One industry source calculates that world demand of 82,000 tonnes a year is expected to reach 110,000 tonnes by 2012 but there will not be the metal to fill that need.

Queensland Ores (QOL) is expecting to ship first concentrates from its Wolfram Camp tungsten and molybdenum mine within two months, while various other players are well advanced. Thor Mining (THR) with its Molyhil moly and tungsten project and King Island Scheelite (KIS) have resources and Chinese partners even though each has a few hurdles yet to go.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23680699-18261,00.html