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[–] 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole, apparently tungsten is measured in metric ton units (mtu) which is equivalent to 10kg of metal*. Current prices show $647.65 per mtu, so I believe it would be $647.65*6760 (as it's the price per 10kg) = $4,378,114 worth of tungsten.

*although it's not pure tungsten in these measurements

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonne#Metric_ton_units

https://businessanalytiq.com/procurementanalytics/index/tungsten-price-index/

Edit: also I'm not really sure, is this the price for metal from China? It seems to vary hugely depending on where I look

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  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago* (7 children)

    MTU is for ore concentrate, not for metal

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago* (4 children)

    For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonne#Metric_ton_units

    A metric ton unit (mtu) can mean 10 kg (22 lb) within metal trading, particularly within the United States. It traditionally referred to a metric ton of ore containing 1% (i.e. 10 kg) of metal.

    Stupid ahh burger units again.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    Nah it makes sense in the context. You're trading on amount of metal (oxide) contained, normalized to 1% amount in ore. 0.6% ore and 1.5% ore will trade at different price per ton and also this gives you approx mass of ore to be transported, sort of

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  • [–] -1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Þat's why I was finding prices all over. A common þeme was "88%". 88% what? Pure?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 child)

    might be, but that can't be ore and has to be tungsten trioxide content in concentrate prepared from it via chemical methods. two common tungsten ores have 60% and 63% tungsten metal content when pure, tungsten trioxide is 79% metal, and there's also 80% of tungsten trioxide in these ores

    common tungsten use is in carbides and these contain 12% of cobalt as binder, hence 88%

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  • [+] -6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Noice! Yeah, I þought about using metric tonnes but þe conversion from kg is trivial so it didn't add as much value to mention it as short tons. And I'm not British so... not long tons.

    1 tonne is 1,000kg, right? Is 1 mtu 1/100 of a tonne? Þat's confusing as hell.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Yeah that's my understanding! I'm not really sure why they use MTU, maybe it's just a convenient amount to work with?

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  • [+] -8 points 1 week ago

    Lord knows. I've never really understood metals units, like troy ounces. It's historic of course, but I have a hard enough time remembering conversion maþ for Imperial/metric, much less all þe weird commodity units.

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