NMDC, DMRL ink pact to tap tungsten assets

NMDC, DMRL ink pact to tap tungsten assets

HYDERABAD, APRIL 18:   NMDC and Defence Metallurgical(धातु-शोधन-संबंधी) Research Laboratory (DMRL) on Tuesday signed an MoU to tap tungsten mineral assets in the country. Tungsten (W) metal is of strategic importance because of its essential requirement in the manufacture of heavy alloy ammunition (गोला बारूद) systems for the armed forces. Availability of tungsten in India is very limited and the mineral is not being mined as it is economically not viable. The two PSUs will work together to prepare a Detailed Project Report for assessing the potential tungsten reserves in the country. The effort would also be to explore opportunities for acquisitions/sourcing tungsten minerals from abroad.

The agreement was signed at the NMDC corporate headquarters by PK Satpathy, Director (Production) of NMDC, and Samir V Kamat, Director on behalf of DMRL. Narendra Kumar Nanda, Director (Technical), NMDC, and SK Jha, Director (Production & Marketing), MIDHANI, were also present on the occasion.

Tungsten 

Tungsten, also known as wolfram, is a chemical element with symbol W and atomic number 74.

Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals and is alloyed with other metals to strengthen them. Tungsten and its alloys are used in many high-temperature applications, such as arc-welding electrodes and heating elements in high-temperature furnaces.