Fifty years ago, global tungsten producer Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG (Wolfram) was little more than an idea attached to a tungsten deposit in the Austrian Alps. Today, the company operates as Europe’s only fully integrated tungsten production chain, combining mining, refining and recycling within a single business. The anniversary comes as critical raw materials return to the centre of industrial and political discussions. Against that backdrop, Wolfram’s history provides an unique view of how tungsten has moved through changing markets, technologies and supply chains over the past five decades.
The story starts in the Austrian Alps in 1967, when the first scheelite ore blocks were discovered near Mittersill. At the time, nobody was talking about circularity, critical raw materials or supply chain resilience. Yet the foundations of all three were already being laid as a local mining project gradually evolved into a business that would mine tungsten, refine it into powders and eventually recover it for reuse.
Scheelit-Bergbau-Mittersill-Gesellschaft was set up four years later to develop the deposit, and Wolfram Bergbau und Hüttengesellschaft itself was founded in 1975. The Mittersill processing plant came online in 1976, the St. Martin refinery followed a year later with the company’s first tungsten metal powder and by the 1980s, Wolfram had begun recovering tungsten scrap too. Mining, refining and recycling were all in place within a decade of each other, though it would take much longer for the three to function as one system.
Fifty years on, the company’s history can largely be traced through those three capabilities. Together, they explain how Wolfram evolved from a local mining project into an integrated tungsten powder business.
Understanding tungsten at its source
Mining sits at the start of Wolfram’s value chain, and has done since the beginning. The development of the Westfeld underground mine in the company’s early years, followed by its opening in 1979, represented an important expansion of Wolfram’s mining activities and strengthened its long-term access to tungsten resources.
Today, direct involvement in mining gives Wolfram something unique in the European tungsten industry: long-term experience of the material at its source and a detailed understanding of how deposit geology influences the rest of the value chain.
That access has become increasingly significant as tungsten has gained attention as a critical raw material. While discussions around supply resilience often focus on where material comes from, Wolfram’s experience suggests that long-term knowledge of a deposit can become a competitive advantage in its own right. Over decades of operation, the company has developed extensive expertise in the deposit’s characteristics and how they influence mining efficiency, processing performance, powder quality and long-term resource management.
Operating a mine for five decades has given Wolfram a level of continuity that is increasingly uncommon within the tungsten industry. Just as importantly, it has allowed expertise to be developed and passed between generations of employees, creating a deep understanding of both the Mittersill deposit and how material moves through the rest of the value chain.
“Working with a deposit over many decades teaches you that mining is never static,” explained Annegret Bicherl, VP Operations. “Geological conditions change as you move through the mine and you have to understand what that means for the processes that follow.
“This knowledge is particularly valuable because mining does not sit separately from the rest of Wolfram. We can connect what we learn underground with processing and refining. Over 50 years, a great deal of practical knowledge has accumulated through that connection.”
Turning experience into process knowledge
Refining is where that understanding of the raw material turns into something a customer can purchase. St. Martin began production in 1977, with the plant’s first tungsten metal powder.
From there, the refinery evolved through a combination of customer demand, technological innovation and long-term investment. As customer requirements evolved, so did Wolfram’s processes, technologies and product offering. Demand for finer tungsten carbide powders through the late 1980s and early 1990s pushed investment into new furnaces, milling technology and process control.
Around the turn of the millennium, automation in tungsten reduction opened up production of submicron carbide powders, and further investment since has expanded the company’s analytical, laboratory and thermal treatment work. Alongside investments in production technology, Wolfram also continued to modernise its digital infrastructure, which enabled better process management and the implementation of technologies such as AI-enabled ore sorting.
None of that came from a single breakthrough. It came from years of investment, technological development and operational transformation.
“Powder production is a good example of why experience matters,” said Andreas Bock, Senior Project Manager. “A specification tells you what the customer needs at the end, but producing it consistently depends on understanding the entire process that comes before it.
“Throughout the years, customer requirements have become more demanding and our processes have developed with them. You learn how changes in raw material, furnace conditions or other process parameters influence the powder. That knowledge is built through years of production, analysis and problem-solving. It cannot simply be added overnight by installing a new piece of equipment.”
Wolfram became part of Sandvik in 2009 positioning the company’s mining and refining expertise inside a larger, more strategic platform for powder technologies and recycling capabilities.
Keeping tungsten in productive use
Recycling is the part of Wolfram’s history that predates most of the industry’s current interest in circularity. The company started dedicated tungsten scrap recovery in 1983, long before the word ‘circular’ meant much to manufacturers.
This early capability has kept expanding. Sorting and hard scrap recycling grew significantly and in 2017, Wolfram took over Sandvik’s recycling operation in Chiplun, India, giving the company its first real foothold in international material flows. As manufacturers pay closer attention to resource efficiency, traceability and supply resilience, recycling has moved closer to the centre of industrial supply chains.
“Recycling has become more important, but for Wolfram it is not a new subject,” said Gary Tully, VP Supply Chain. “We have been recovering tungsten-containing material for decades, so we have seen how both the available scrap streams and customer expectations have changed.
“The challenge is to understand what material is coming back, how it can be processed effectively in order to re-enter the value chain. When that is done well, recycling provides a valuable source of tungsten, reduces dependence on primary raw material and helps ensure that this critical and finite resource remains in productive use for longer. It also gives customers another way to think about the resilience of their own material supply.”
Wolfram’s experience over four decades of recycling has also highlighted a practical reality: circularity does not eliminate the need for mining. Tungsten can be recovered and reused repeatedly, but losses still occur throughout manufacturing and end use. Maintaining supply therefore depends on balancing recycled and primary sources of material.
Bringing it together
Wolfram is now working to expand recycling and resource efficiency further, including recovering more tungsten-containing material and developing direct recycling technologies. This work reflects Wolfram’s strategic focus on expanding circular solutions, improving resource efficiency and strengthening the long-term resilience of the tungsten value chain.
David Goulbourne, President of Wolfram, sees the anniversary as a chance to build on five decades of expertise and continue to invest in technologies and solutions that supports more circular and resource-efficient use of tungsten.
“Looking back at 50 years, what stands out is how much of Wolfram’s development has come from connecting different parts of the tungsten value chain,” he said. “Mining gives us knowledge of the material at its source, refining has built decades of process expertise and recycling allows us to keep valuable tungsten in use for longer. Behind those capabilities sits the knowledge accumulated by generations of employees across mining, refining and recycling operations.
“Today, security of supply is about more than access to a mine. It is about understanding the material through every stage of its journey. Those capabilities have developed over time through the experience and dedication of our people. The challenge now is to use that experience in a world where supply resilience, responsible sourcing and circularity are becoming increasingly important. The next chapter will be about continuing to improve how we use and understand this critical raw material.”
A lot has changed since 1967. Digital mine planning, advanced powder technologies and an international recycling network would have looked like science fiction to the people who found the first ore blocks near Mittersill. But the principles that have shaped Wolfram for five decades, combining technical expertise, responsible sourcing and long-term thinking, haven’t really changed. If anything, fifty years on, they are more relevant than ever.
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