The majority of tungsten deposits only contains some tenths of a percent of WO3. On the other hand, ore concentrates in international trading require 65-75% WO3. Therefore, a very high amount of gangue material must be separated. This is why ore dressing plants are always located near the mine (to save transportation costs). Companies which process their own concentrates produce low-grade concentrates (6-40% WO3) in order to minimize the loss of tungsten minerals which increases with increasing concentration grade.
Another important aspect of the beneficiation process today is the disposal of the separated gangue materials, which in case of flotation also contain chemicals. Especially in areas with rigid environmental restrictions, a deposition near the plant is sometimes not possible and transportation over longer distances is therefore necessary. Depending on the mine conditions, a total or partial refill of the tailings into the mine is possible.
In regard to the beneficiation of ore, the positive properties of the tungsten minerals are the high specific gravity (scheelite and wolframite) and the ferromagnetism (wolfram-mite). A negative property is their brittleness, leading to a partial joss by too fine particles formed during the disintegration steps.
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