The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) has settled this year's tungsten mining quota at the equivalent of 66,850 tonnes of tungsten dioxide grading 65%, up 12.79% from last year's quota, the China Tungsten Industry Association (CTIA) announced last Wednesday.

The total consists of a 59,440-tonne tungsten ore mining quota, up 8.45% year-on-year, and a 7,410-tonne tungsten recovery quota, up by a significant 66.14% on the 2007 recovery quota.

China's tungsten concentrate output over the first four months of this year amounted to 21,238 tonnes of tungsten dioxide equivalent, down 3.2% from the same period last year

Jiangxi Province, China's largest tungsten producing region, has been granted a quota of 32,200 tonnes of mined tungsten dioxide, unchanged from last year, and 800 tonnes of recovered tungsten dioxide, an increase of 87.5% on an annual basis.

China regards tungsten and other rare earth metals as strategic national resources, and began to control tungsten mining through a system of annual mining quotas in 2002 and the suspension of the granting of new mining rights to tungsten deposits.

The MLR issues tungsten quotas every year with a view to meeting growing domestic demand, as well as limiting tungsten mining activities and encouraging the recovery of tungsten from tungsten-associated tailings and low-grade tungsten ore.

The table below breaks down the MLR's tungsten mining quota for the year 2008 by region.