How is wolframite mined

Wolframite is made up of iron, manganese, and tungsten oxide. Its color ranges from a lighter grey to a deep black, and its luster is sub-metallic. Most often, wolframite is found in crystalline form.

This includes prismatic, columnar, blocky, and flattened tabular crystal varieties. This is a dense mineral, which makes it heavy, and its fracture is highly variable and uneven. Wolframite is not actually considered a unique mineral, but as a part of a mineral series, which includes huebnerite manganese-rich and ferberite iron-rich. Wolframite sits closer to the middle of the series, as its manganese and iron content are generally more equal.

Some placer deposits are amenable to strip mining or dredging operations. In strip mining the overburden is removed and deposited in the hole left from the excavation of the previous strip or panel and the ore can be simply dug out. Hydraulic mining is commonly used in reclamation of old mine tailings that still contain payable values of tungsten.

Underground mining Underground mining is preferred when surface mining is, or becomes, expensive. A major factor in the decision to mine underground is the ratio of waste to ore strip ratio. Once this ratio becomes large, surface mining is no longer economic. Underground access is through an adit an entrance to a mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal , a shaft or a decline. Ore is mined in stopes the void created by extracting the ore on a number of roughly horizontal levels at various depths below the surface.

Processing Concentrates Primary Tungsten Sources Modern processing methods dissolve scheelite and wolframite concentrates by an alkaline pressure digestion, using either a soda or a concentrated NaOH solution.

It is extremely easy to not think about how your ring got to your finger, but once you do understand, it makes you appreciate your choice even more. A lot of hard mining work went in to find the material used to make your and many other fine pieces of tungsten carbide jewelry. Tungsten Jewelry. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. About the Author: Zack Mason. Mason performed work on engraving, resizing, and jewelry working for several types of precious metals such as gold, platinum and even alternative metals such as palladium.

Prior to working in the jewelry industry, Mason was a staff reporter for a local newspaper where he developed and tuned his writing skills. There are few jewelers in the industry with this type of experience. Read More. Related Posts. Leave A Comment Cancel reply Comment.