An Overview of Process Mineralogy of Tungsten and Its Associated Elements

China produces much tungsten metal every year. The tungsten deposits in China usually are low-grade and have complex mineralogy composition as well as many associated valuable elements. The associated elements include Sn, Mo, Bi, Cu, Pb, Zn, Sb, Be, Co, Au, Ag, Nb, Ta, Re, Sc, REE, Li, As, S, P and the nonmetallic minerals such as quartz, fluorite, feldspar, etc. Therefore, only the tungsten ore dressing is done in accordance with the ore properties based on the detailed and full process mineralogy study can the valuable elements be reasonably and fully recovered and the maximization of resource utilization as well as environment-friendly is achieved eventually. This paper summarizes the status quo of process mineralogy of tungsten and its associated elements in China, focuses on the process mineralogy studies on major tungsten ore types including tungsten-molybdenum associated ore, tungsten-tin polymetallic ore and tungsten-copper polymetallic ore, suggests the future process mineralogy research on tungsten and its associated elements.