The bulk of the tungsten ore consumed in Europe prior to 1914 came from British possessions; these were principally the Federated Malay States, Burma, Australia, and New Zealand. The United States, Portugal, Bolivia, Japan, Siam, Argentina, and Peru were also producers. The great demand for tungsten created by the war added China to the list of important producers and greatly increased the production from Burma and Bolivia. Smelting works were established in England and those of the United States and France were greatly enlarged. England is at present in a position to dominate the world tungsten situation. The question of control of the ores obtainable in China, Korea, Siam, Portugal, and western South America is likely to be an important one for the future.
Of the annual pre-war world production, the United States used about one-fifth. Three-fourths of this requirement was met by domestic production. The balance was obtained by importation, chiefly from Germany, from Portugal and Spain, and from England, both of concentrates and of ferrotungsten.
To the considerable demand for high speed tool steels occasioned by munitions manufacture, production in the United States responded quickly. Supplies of tungsten came chiefly from California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and South Dakota. At the same time importation largely increased, chiefly from the west coast of South America and the Orient. Consumption reached a half of the world's total. Considerable amounts of ferrotungsten were exported to the Allies.
The end of the war created a possible tungsten shortage in this country into a tungsten surplus. In so far as actual domestic consumption is concerned there has been a return to something like pre-war conditions, as the only known new use to which tungsten may be put--the manufacture of die steel--does not involve the use of any large amount of ferrotungsten. The richer mines of the two chief tungsten-producing districts in the United States have shown impoverishment and at present no important new deposits are known. The grade of the producing deposits is on an average low. The domestic production of tungsten ore will doubtless decrease, owing to the importation of cheaper foreign ores, unless a high tariff wall is erected. Importation from the Orient and the west coast of South America should continue in reduced amounts, depending upon the ability of domestic manufacturers to obtain and hold foreign markets for ferrotungsten and high speed tool steel. In the commercial control of tungsten ores the United States has at present a strong position, second only to that of England.