Different tungsten products are used for different applications. The major areas of applications are: -

Tungsten Carbide:

Tungsten carbide is used in cutting tools as well as in wear resisting material. Apart from industrial cutting tools it is used as a drill bit in the mining and petroleum industry.

Ferro – Tungsten:
 Earlier tungsten carbide was used in the defense and tank ammunition and it has now been replaced by tungsten nickel iron alloy.

Tungsten Metal / Wires:
High purity tungsten metal drawn a wire in used as filament in electrical lamps and as cathodes for electrical tube lamps.

The other minor areas of used are chemicals, X-ray screens, television tubes, etc.

The Chief Tungsten minerals are tungstates of iron, manganese and calcium, the tungsten ore being wolfram (FeMn) O₄ and scheelite, CaWO₄.

Tungsten ore mined are beneficiation to yield desired grade concentrates which is the starting point for making other down stream intermediate products like tungsten acid, tungsten mental powder, ferro-tungsten, tungsten carbide, etc.

The concentrate specifications for commercial purpose are in terms of WO₃ content. Any concentrates with 65% and more Wo₃ content is considered saleable material. However, Low-grade concentrates products provided the product could be obtained at economic costs. As such specification for the lower grade concentrates can not be prefixed.

Tungsten Carbide:
The Specification of the major T. C. tool producers in the country viz. WIDIA AND SANDVIK along with US specification are given below:

Constituent	WIDIA% Wolframite	SANDIVK Scheelite %	Wolframite	US carbide Scheelite %	Wolframite %
WO3	Min. 65	Min. 70	65	65	Min. 65
Sn	Max. 1.5	Max. 2.0	0.50	0.1	Max. 1.5
As	Max. 0.25	Max. 0.1	0.10	0.1	Max. 0.25
S	Max. 0.50	Max. 1.0	1.00	0.50	Max. 0.50
Cu	Max. 0.05	Max. 0.50	0.50	0.10	Max. 0.50
Sb	Max. 0.10	Max. 1.00	--	0.10	Max. 0.05
Bi	Max. 0.20	Max. 1.00	1.00	0.25	Max. 0.50
Mo	Max. 0.20	Max. 0.15	--	0.10	Max. 0.10
Pb	Max. 0.05	Max. 0.50	--	0.10	Max. 1.00
Zn	Max. 0.10	--	--	0.10	Max. 1.00
P	Max. 0.05	Max. 0.05	0.05	0.05	Max. 0.05
Si	Max. 2.50	Max. 1.50	0.50	--	--
Ca	Max. 0.05	--	0.20	--	Max. 0.20
Mn	No. Limit	1.00	--	2.00	(Fe & Mn)
Fe	3.00	--	--	--	--
Ca+SiO2	--	--	1.00	--	--
F	--	--	1.00	--	--

Ferro-tungsten:

The BIS (IS: 5632 – 1970) has prescribed the following specifications of concentrates for ferro tungsten industry WO₃ 65% (min.) P – 0.05% max. As – 01% max., Sn 0.1% max., MnO – 10 15% max.

Electrical Industry:

The industry imports tungsten bars and wires. No specification is available. The US specification of concentrate for pure metal making is given below:

WO₃ - 65%, Sn – 1.5%, Cu – 0.5%, As – 0.20%, Bi – 0.5%, Sb – 0.5%, Mn – 0.025%, P – 0.50%, S – 0.50%, Pb – 1.0%, Zn – 1.0%, Ca – 0.20%

MDB suggested the following specifications for wolframite and scheelite and scheelite concentrate for tungsten carbide industry.

Constituent	Wolframite %	Scheelite %
WO3	Min. 65	65 to 70
Sb	Max. 1.5	Max. 1.5
P	Max. 0.05	Max. 0.05
S	Max. 1.00	Max. 1.00
Cu	Max. 0.50	Max. 0.50
As	Max. 0.20	Max. 0.10
Bi	Max. 1.00	Max. 1.00
Ca	Max. 0.05	--
Mn	--	1.00
Fe	--	3.00
Si	Max. 1.50	Max. 1.50

Tungsten ore as mined is not used directly in the industry as mentioned above the end use classification of this mineral is not possible. In the inventory as on 01.01.1985 the following reserve classification has been followed:

It was noted that while the resources position of tungsten in India is much better now as compared to the late 70s, the grade of most of the deposit is very low. They are mostly around 0.1% WO₃ levels except a few deposits like Degana Vain Load (0.5% WO₃) Kobana 0.3% WO₃ Burugubanda bloom 0.5% WO₃. The working economics of the Indian deposits, therefore, depended mainly on (I) amenability of the ore to beneficiation and the beneficiation process and (ii) the quantity and number of co-products and by-products that could be obtained while mining and processing such deposits. While in the gold mines, tungsten is a by-product, in Burungubanda it occurs with graphite, in salda with fluorite and in kobana no-Ta may be available in the top laterite. In the granite in Deana the WO₃ is only around 0.04% to 0.2%. However, it may be an economic preposition if the indicated lithium levels are confirmed and recovery of associated tin is also possible.

 The following grade-wise classification of reserves and resources may be of use.

 Reserves - WO₃ 0.30% and above average.